


Forget the World

by orphan_account



Category: PewDiePie - Fandom, Phan, Phandom, Septiplier - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst, Cheating, Deaths, F/M, Fluff, Horny Jack, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Multi, Oblivious Jack, Oblivious Mark, Plot, Sexual Tension, Slow Build, Swearing, Teasing, probably eventual smut, twist - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-25
Updated: 2016-08-19
Packaged: 2018-07-18 03:50:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7298344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's just Jack and Mark against the world, well not really. More like against the zombies and they're also accompanied by their friends and fellow homosexuals. Oh shit, I shouldn't mention that, Jack and Mark haven't exactly figured out they'd rather stick their dicks inside of each other. Shhh, we'll leave it up to them to figure that out whilst they're struggling to survive the apocalypse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Did You Fuck Her?

**Author's Note:**

> This was based off of the game Dead Island, introduced to me back in '11 by the Yogscast.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Mark take a trip, the party is ruined.

"Jack, for fucks sake hurry up we’re going to be late, it’s already ten twenty!”

Mark sped through his house, grabbing his keys and phone whilst dragging his suit case behind him. Almost throwing his bag at the front door, he races upstairs to where his best friend was sitting casually on his phone. “Jack!” Mark shouts again, this time grabbing the phone out of the Irishman’s hands, he looked up in surprise.

“Hey! Mark, I was about to finish level with the-” Jack began.

“We seriously have to go; we’re going to miss the plane. Jack, we payed too much for this holiday to miss it like this!” Mark glared at Jack, and then pulled him up by his arm, running back down stairs with Jack trailing behind him. Jack’s green haired flopped on his head with every step, making him chuckle under his breath as Mark cussed over and over about being late. “If we fucking miss this fucking plane, I’m blaming this on you and your fucking obsession with phone apps, fuck.”

“Calm down!” Jack laughed, amused by Mark’s use of ‘fuck’. He looked down at their hands, relieved to find that Mark grabbed his wrist, not his actual hand. Mark let go to pick up his luggage, then heaved Jack his own, he then swung the door open and stepped out, instantly running onto the street to meet their Uber. “Mark slow down for god’s sake!” He burst out laughing as Jack attempted to stumble after Mark.

He was lucky enough to make it inside the taxi before it sped off, turning corners then heading onto the highway towards the airport.

***

Around an hour later, Sean and Mark were safely resting on the plane, sleeping, eating and binging on the old Jurassic Park movies together. Mark noticed that Jack would always frown during suspenseful moments, completely serious and sometimes concerned for the movie characters, whereas Jack saw that Mark would laugh, never fooled by the pathetic CGI and effects.

During their third movie, Jack’s eyes began to droop and his breathing calmed as he zoned out of the current film. Mark thought about tapping his shoulder to zap him out of it, but decided not to, he knew Jack was tired and didn’t want to be a dick. 

He looked around and noticed that his window was the only one with the blind open; everyone else in the plane was asleep and/or had their blind shut. He quickly pulled it down, smiling when he realised that Jack and him shared the two seats near the window, he hadn’t thought about it before and was now glad because he could spend quality time with Jack. 

Due to the fact that Jack lived all the way in Ireland and Mark in America with all their other friends, they never get to talk or hang out face to face.  
Jack had now fully closed his eyes and somehow his head had fallen onto Mark’s shoulder, making him hold his breath, not wanting to wake him and afraid any little noise would. Mark moved over a little bit, letting Jack’s head rest on his lap with a pillow there for comfort. Jack was now fully lying down but had his knees curled up to his chest, Mark continued watching his movie with Jack’s head on his lap. 

Mark found it hilarious at how comfortable he was with Jack’s head on his lap, expecting him to be utterly disgusted by the idea of it considering that he likes his personal space. 

It crossed his mind to touch Jack’s hair, it looked so soft and clean, forcing away the thought Mark tried to focus back on the movie. Then he thought about how bad it would be if he got a boner, he chuckled and made a tab in his mind reminding him not to. Mark took his phone out of the seat compartment, checking the time; it read 11:37pm.

***

Mark didn’t remember much from the night before, images of him and Jack checking into this fancy hotel on the beach after the plane trip came to mind but he couldn’t remember what he had said. He could remember the view from their room and the loud music that made the sand vibrate, but that was pretty much it. Now he found himself alone in a messy white sheeted bed with a slight headache. 

Did he go out drinking? 

Mark was a little disappointed that he couldn’t even remember his first night in this majestical holiday location, the type of place that you’d win a two week trip to at one of those lottery houses or with those scratch and win cards.

He, Jack and the boys had booked a month holiday to spend some quality time together and not through a Skype video call. They planned to film challenge videos for Team Edge, comedy sketches for Cyndago and vlog for Jack, Mark and the rest of the individual accounts. But one of their closest mates, Daniel Kyre had an unexpected suicide attempt and died only a month before. 

The boys told Mark to cancel the trip, saying as a final that they would not come, and needed time to heal after the sudden tragedy. Mark was deadly serious about still going, he knew he needed something to take his mind off of Daniel’s death; he wouldn’t make it if he stayed at home all day grieving, Mark as scared that if he did, he would take the same turn Daniel took. 

He also knew that Daniel would have wanted them to all go, forget about him and just have fun, that’s just how he was. Ryan was so broken and Mark knew completely how he felt, he would never change his mind to come. 

So Mark asked Jack to still come along, they would change the booking so it was only the two of them. Jack had only met Daniel twice and didn’t feel as much of an impact as the others, so he agreed.

“Mark? You awake buddy?” A familiar voice rung in Mark’s head, he looked up to see a small green haired man sitting by the table, on the far side of the room, eating cereal. His green hair seemed to glow in the light in contrast to his favourite burgundy jumper. 

He laughed when Mark rubbed his eyes and groaned in response. Jack got up from the table to rinse his bowl and place it on the drying rack in the kitchen, looking over at Mark a few times and chuckling under his breath. 

His flaming red hair was spiked in every direction possible and his eyes were almost permanently sealed shut. Jack wanted to just run up to him and pull on his cheeks; he looked so confused and adorable in this state. Jack stopped for a second. “Adorable?” He whispered to himself, trying to erase the thought from his mind, it felt weird.

“What did you say?” Mark grumbled.

“Nothing.” Jack waved it off, continuing to wash his dishes.

“Hey Jack, when did we uhh- when did we get to sleep last night? What did we do?” Mark finally asked; his curiosity showing in his half opened eyes. Jack looked up at his best friend, taking the question sexually and stifling his laugh.

“I think we slept at like three? You don’t remember what happened?” Jack smiled, trying not to laugh again; he had just discovered how dirty his mind was. “Well… I was hoping you would remember actually… It was one of the best nights of my life… _Fuck._ ”

Jack said in a soft high voice, letting out far too exaggerated moans, laughing between sentences, “…You really know how to make a man feel special.”

Jack grabbed his stomach, everything hurt with laughter, his eyes were filled with tears. Jack’s mind couldn’t help but wander and imagine such things, he cringed but kept laughing.

Mark rubbed his eyes again and sat up; he turned his head to Jack, glaring at him, this time with fully open eyes.

This made Jack burst harder into laughter, stumbling towards Mark’s bed, which was directly next to Jack’s but with a metre space between. 

Jack almost fell over a few times, finding it hard to walk. He sat on the bed across from Mark and continued to giggle, while the corner of Mark’s lips started to curve into a smile. He couldn’t help it, Jack’s laugh was contagious.

“Seriously! Jack-” Mark tried to stay serious but failed miserably, the sexual sentences replaying in his head; he tried to finish his sentence but ended up cracking up into laughter. He swatted his hand at Jack, trying to slap the silliness out of him but missed and hit the bed in front of the dying Irishman.

“No seriously! What happened la-” Mark couldn’t seem to form his words anymore, what Jack had said wasn’t even worth this much laughter, but they were both so tired and everything and anything seemed unbelievably funny at this point.

“Okay, so you really not remember anything? Wow, you must have been really tired dude!” Jack’s laughing slowed to an end, taking deep breaths while he thought of his next words. 

Mark didn’t remember the party?

Mark shook his head, his ribs only just beginning to heal from the pain of constant laughter. “Well, the hotel was hosting this really cool beach party, and we went down and spent some time there after we checked in.” Jack explained, looking Mark right in the eye, he didn’t want to share what happened next. 

It was odd behaviour, especially for the first night, but Jack had sworn to himself that he would forget about it, maybe bringing it up in the future for some weird stories.  
Mark nodded for Jack to continue, he knew that look, Jack was hiding something and Mark was definitely one of those people to leak the secrets out of people. Jack lifted his eyebrows and tilted his head to the side, pretending to be confused with Mark’s gesture, Mark wasn’t an idiot, he knew exactly what was up.

“And then?” Mark tried to comfort Jack out of his speech jam.

Jack began to speak really fast whilst fiddling with his fingers, obviously nervous about this topic. “Well, see I’m not too sure you want to hear about this, I don’t know if you’re prone to like traumatising moments or stories but I really wouldn’t want to-” 

“Jack, Jack! Buddy, when you talk that fast, I can’t understand a word that comes out of your mouth.” Mark chuckled, taking a hand and placing it on Sean’s shoulder, only reaching the first stage of tapping people’s secrets. 

Jack took a quick glance at Mark’s hand on his shoulder, becoming even more nervous and a little uncomfortable, was he really ready to hear this? It was quite intense, even for Jack.

“Last night, at the party, about half way through, t-there was this girl… And-”

“You fucked her?” Mark lifted his eyebrow.

“What? No!” Jack stuttered, completely shocked by the question.

“Carry on then.” Mark said, Jack smiled for a second, wrapping his head around this whole conversation and somehow despite the fear, Mark could always make him smile.

“Anyway, it was really weird; I can’t really explain how it happened, because I have no bloody clue. But she somehow, bit someone? On the neck or arm, I forgot but badly as well, blood everywhere; they evacuated us from the beach and sent us all to our rooms. But for some reason, to get in the hotel we all had to take these, t-tablets?” Jack said it as a question, asking himself as well as Mark. 

He hadn’t had the time to really think about what had happened the last night until this point, he was now very suspicious to what those tablets were. He looked at Mark in the eyes again and shrugged, knowing no more than that.

“Weird. So the girl bit someone?” Mark asked, emphasising on the word ‘bit’.

Jack just nodded, not too sure of it himself. He was trying to figure out if he saw things correctly that night, or maybe he was just too drunk and started to hallucinate. “Maybe… We’re all going to turn into zombies!” Mark took a pillow and threw it at Jack’s face, causing him to flail his arms in the air and fall backwards onto the ground between their beds.

“Mark, you bag of dicks!” Jack groaned lifting himself off the ground and throwing the pillow back. Whenever the Irishman raised his voice, his accent would come through thicker, making Mark laugh harder than he should.

Then as if on a silent signal, a large bang echoed through the halls from behind their hotel door. Jack and Mark froze and held their breath, neither of them dared to make a sound; it was far too early in the morning to be scared shitless. Jack followed Mark’s stare to the front door, both men waited for another crash. Jack moved closer to Mark on the bed, keeping his eyes on the door whilst slowly making sure not to make the bed sheets crunch.

“Mark-” Jack’s voice was barley a whisper, but loud enough for Mark to hear.


	2. Meeting Gay Rapists

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan and Phil are gay rapists, for sure.

“Mark-” Jack’s voice was barley a whisper, but loud enough for Mark to hear. 

He quickly put his hand over Jack’s mouth, shutting him up. Jack flicked Mark’s hand off, earning a glare from the half Korean male. “Dude, it was nothing.” He said calmly, not so sure himself but tried to stay sane for Mark. Mark didn’t look too convinced, but shrugged, quickly picking up another pillow and continuing their childish games. From outside it must have sounded very inappropriate, due to the bed squeaking and the cries of two men that constantly kept coming.

“Ouch! Jack you bastard! I swear-”

Another bang. This time it was louder and both men swore they heard voices. Jack really started to panic, maybe there were terrorists here to kill them, or crazy stalker fan girls, two completely different things, but still scary.

“Fuck this, what is going on out there?” Mark sighed, standing up and barging over to the hotel door; Jack shot up after him and was behind Mark within seconds. Mark looked over to Jack and nodded, Jack just stared back at him nervously. Mark’s hand wrapped around the door knob, twisting it slowly, opening it to reveal two unbelievably tall men, looking a little bruised and worn down. The hallway stretched out quite a few metres, then turned left to the elevators and stairs, all across the walls were doors leading to more rooms like Jack and his own.

The taller male had a bruise on his right temple, where his hair didn’t cover, and he stood across from the first door away from their room. The door didn’t look like the rest which was odd, Mark wondered if he had noticed it on his first trip to his room, largely doubting it. Then he put two and two together and figured that the tall brown haired male had tried to break into that room, the door was chipped down the middle with little wooden specks scattered across the carpet. The shorter but older looking one with ripped black skinny jeans and cut knees stood two doors down, holding what looked like a weapon. There was no one else in the hallway, why were they breaking into someone’s room?

“Hey, sorry did we disturb you? Oh shit, you’re Markiplier right?” The tall brown haired one said, shooting Mark an apologetic look, while the black haired male stood further away, it turns out to be a shovel in his hands. Mark focused on darker haired one, the shovel’s head had dark liquid prayed across it, but before Mark could figure out what it was, the male hid it behind his back. He then lifted his gaze back on the brown haired male; he wasn’t holding anything except his phone, but there was a red axe lying on the ground by his feet.

“Ah, yeah actually, do I know you? Don’t tell me you’re a fan.” Mark said, not shifting as the taller one walked up to him and held out his hand for a shake, Mark looked at it for a split second. He accepted it, shaking his hand slowly which was surprisingly warm but rough, he must have been doing something active lately.

“I’m Dan and this is my best friend Phil.” Dan smiled, turning back to nod at Phil, just like Mark had done to Jack before he opened the door. Mark flinched at his name; memories of his deceased best friend flooded through his mind, Mark forced them to go away, back to hiding in the dark, scary parts of his mind. Phil still held the shovel behind his back, obviously not going to openly show it to Mark, but he did step forward to greet Mark.

Jack hadn’t moved, still located behind Mark’s right shoulder, and the two men didn’t notice him until he spoke up.

“So, are ye’ two going to explain what you were doing making so much noise?” He said frowning, Dan and Phil looked a little taken aback, thinking Mark had another voice, but Jack lent over Mark’s shoulder, showing his face. Dan smiled; recognising Jack’s face from YouTube, Phil hadn’t quite caught on yet though. “What?”

“You know who we are, right?” Dan asked, generally interested if Jack knew who the biggest YouTube duo were, obviously Mark had failed to.

“Yeah, so are you going to answer my damn question or not?” Jack pushed past Mark and despite the large height difference, stood up to Dan, tilting his head, the Irishman was becoming impatient. Mark put a hand on Jack’s shoulder and pulled him back a little, he wasn’t going to let this be too heated, Mark hadn’t even had his morning coffee yet.

“Dude, calm your tits! Phil and I were just looking through the janitor’s room for any first aid shit. I don’t know if you two gentlemen noticed, but we’re a bit fucked up.” Dan said casually, as if they’re like this every day, which would explain the odd looking door, the janitor’s closet. But Mark could sense something else that the two weren’t mentioning.

“About that, we had to kinda’ break down the door; we didn’t think it would make as much noise as it did.” Phil said just as calmly, he chuckled a little. These two were definitely on Mark’s list of creepy people and increased his level of suspicion that they were secretly two gay rapists. 

Then something struck in Mark’s head, maybe he should ask them about the party last night, it would be great to hear some more information about it since he couldn’t remember a single thing. The mention of a girl biting someone hadn’t left his mind since Jack had nervously told him this morning.

“Couldn’t you guys just asked reception or something, and I’m sure there would have been some in your room?” Mark asked, not breaking eye contact with Phil, feeling that because he had a weapon, he was guilty of something and needed to be supervised.

“It wasn’t that easy, it’s hard to explain but I’m sure you two’ll find out sooner or later.” Dan said, earning an eyebrow lift from Mark, this was really getting out of hand, who the fuck were these people? What did he mean by ‘it wasn’t that easy’ and that we’ll ‘find out sooner or later’, and what was there to find out? Something weird was going on at this island and Mark needed to know.

“Alright then, would you two maybe-” Mark was cut off by a very curious Jack.

“What happened at the party last night?” Mark looked over to his right, Jack must be able to mind read, he then turned his gaze back to Dan and Phil, urging them to hurry up and explain.

Dan looked back at Phil, who just sadly nodded, before facing them again, sighing loudly, Dan opened his mouth to speak but a voice coming from his phone interrupted him.

 _“Hey err-, we have another lot ne- down division five, ple- come immediately, out.”_ A scruffy voice spoke loud and clear, the order was cut out by fuzzing almost like a walkie talkie in the olden days. 

Which confused Mark, iPhone’s were surely capable of capturing a full sentence without disturbance right? The signal must just be bad at the moment; Mark’s mind concluded the thought, focusing back on Dan’s phone. Dan quickly turned towards the two smaller men; he put his phone in his back pocket and raised his hands up to them.

“Anyway sorry again, we gotta’ go but yeah, nice meeting you two, also it’d be best if you two were to stay in your rooms, we’ll come back and check on you later!” He said before picking up his axe and speeding off, with Phil trailing behind him, his shovel finally visible from behind his back, the dark liquid dripped off of it as he swung it around the corner.

“Hey wait, you fuckers! Answer our question!” Jack shouted, his voice breaking a little. He tried to sprint off after them but Mark held him back, shushing him as he took Dan’s advice and took him back inside their room. As soon as he closed the door Jack fell to his bed, hands on his head, trying to wrap up what just happened. “What the hell is going on here Mark?” He asked quietly, looking sideways to Mark at the door.

“I’m starting to feel like this trip was a bad idea; maybe we should have just stayed home.” Mark admitted as he walked over to the table and sat down; he gazed past his and Jack’s bed and through the large sliding door that allowed access to the balcony. Jack shook his head, knowing that anything would be better than Mark staying in his house with a broken Ryan, grieving Matt and permanently absent Daniel.

“No, this is good, this is great. This could be just what you needed, some fun.” Jack shared his thoughts to a confused looking Mark.

“Fun?” Jack nodded, trying to see things from a different point of view.

“Yeah, don’t you reckon this could be like an adventure, a game? We have no fucking idea what’s going on and you know it could be fun to check it out. We’re like investigators!” Jack said cheerfully, throwing his arms in the air, trying to lift the mood. It was typical for Jack to try and make things brighter between the two, but Mark really wasn’t feeling it, he just looked at Jack sadly, drained of laughter and happiness.

“Sean, this is serious, can you just take this maturely for one god damned second please.” He said, it came out worse than he had planned, making it sound like he had fully snapped at his green haired best friend. Mark had used Jack’s real name to make sure that he understood that this wasn’t going to be a fun game, Mark didn’t like the level of suspicion this place held and despite its beautiful features, he wanted to leave.

“Don’t call me Sean.” Jack’s tone was hollow and rough, his energetic happy side had switched off, almost as if it was all fake.

“Well then take this like an adult! Sean, you need-” This time Jack stood up from the bed, glaring at Mark with dark eyes.

“I said don’t call me Sean! My name is Jack!” Mark stood up as well, challenging Jack. He partly found this funny but was still completely serious about Jack toughening up and not acting like a child about these situations.

“Fine! Sean, I-” Mark smiled, knowing that Jack would crack it within seconds, he hated it when people called him by his real name, Mark never knew why and he had to admit he thought about it a few times but wasn’t too interested.

“Jack!” Jack screamed, clenching his hands into fists, he then came running at Mark, who yelped and tried to turn in time to dodge Jack. Jack full on shoulder smashed into Mark’s side, taking Mark down with him, they both landed square on the table, feeling it bend beneath their weight. There was some laughter, some shouts and grunts, but most of all the feet and hands that kicked and pulled.

“Fuck you, Mark! Fuck you!” Jack shouted while chuckling under his breath, finding this situation bizarre, Mark turned to face him while they both lay on the table.

“Don’t call me by my real name!” He said with a huge grin, mimicking Jack’s earlier words. This then earned a punch to the cheek, not too hard, but hard enough for Mark to turn away and cry out in pain. See this here, this here was true friendship, punching and cussing, well at least in their worlds.

Mark slid off the table after Jack roughly kicked him off; he landed wobbly on his feet, and then made his way to his bed, on the far side of the room next to the glass sliding door. 

He lay down on his bed, his breaths forced and harsh, he was completely out of energy. His cheek stung a little bit and his side hurt from Jack slamming into him. He turned over and looked out the glass, at the beach and the little huts that were meant to be supervised; there was no one out there, no one swimming or sunbaking. Jack was still on the table, breathing just as loudly as Mark had. 

Mark quickly got up and limped over to the glass, opening the sliding door and letting in the cool, salty breeze of the ocean, this caught Jack’s attention and he looked over.

“What are ye’ doing?” Mark just ignored him, too curious to as why no one was out enjoying the sun, maybe they thought they it was too chilly, or were all too spooked from the biting incident. He walked right up to the railing, his and Jack’s room was on the twelfth floor so he could see everything perfectly, and there was absolutely no one on the beach or even on the ground, but there were figures in the water, too far away for Mark to tell if they were people or just bois. 

“What are ye’ doing?” Jack repeated, this time painfully sliding off of the table after Mark, he then limped over to the balcony just like Mark had. Standing next to Mark and following his frowned gaze over the beach he thought, what was so interesting to the red haired male to stand here silently and stare?

“We’re going down to reception right now; we’re going to ask about the bite and what the fuck is going on here, nothing seems right.” Mark said, turning around, not looking at Jack at all and heading to the bathroom before they left. Jack followed him back inside, sitting down on his bed, waiting for Mark to finish so he could have a leak as well. 

He agreed that they should head down and ask about all this shit that had happened in their 36 hours at this place, they had to survive another month here if they decided to stay. Once Mark had finished, Jack slid in after him, then they grabbed their phones and keys and closed the front door behind them.


	3. Dead Receptionist

Jack and Mark walk silently through the halls, until Mark stopped suddenly and kneeled down to what Jack thought was tying his shoe laces. So Jack didn’t pay attention, he just pulled out his phone and started scrolling through his twitter feed, not having a chance to earlier because of all the confusion.

“It’s blood.”

“What?” Jack looked down in surprise, thinking Mark was hurt and bleeding.

“The stuff that came off of Phil’s shovel was blood.” Jack kneeled down next to Mark, watching him stare intently at the dark droplet stains on the perfectly clean cream carpet. Mark stood up and this time started to run, turning left to face the four elevator doors, Jack followed him. “We need answers, what if those two men were murders?”

“No way, Mark, they were YouTubers like us.” Jack tried to remind Mark that everything was going to be fine and that the whole biting accident was probably just some girl who was drunk, probably.

“Then why the fuck was one of them holding a shovel covered in blood?” Mark snapped, turning to spit his words in Jack’s face that flinched away. Jack somehow felt offended by this and turned away to press the elevator button, not wanting to speak to Mark until they were down on the ground floor. 

He had already annoyed Jack by repeating his real name but cracking it now when it wasn’t necessary was enough for Jack to act salty back. Mark noticed Jack’s silence as the elevator door opened and made an approving ding, they both stepped in and Mark felt a wave of guilt. 

He knew he shouldn’t have spoken to Jack like that, but he had a perfectly good excuse. He had come on this trip for a nice peaceful time away from his living hell at home, now Mark was dealing with two ‘YouTubers’ possibly murdering people, some girl that likes to bite, a mystery tablet that he never remembered taking, weird voices on the phone about something in division five and the absence of a large amount of people that were meant to be having fun outside.

Jack pressed the ground button and lent back on the side of the elevator, crossing his arms to add the bitchy effect. He really wasn’t in the mood to talk to Mark at the moment, he knew there wasn’t much of a reason to be angry at Mark, but he knew this wouldn’t last long; Jack could only stand a maximum of 20 minutes. He wasn’t the type to be able to stay quiet for so long, he was always energetic and loud, shouting, screaming, he loved it. Plus, no way could he stay mad at Mark, Mark was his best friend, but just like Mark had before, he found it a little funny the way everyone was acting here, as if everything was fake and planned. Mark knew Jack would get over it, he thought about apologising but decided not to, it had already been quite a few minutes since the event happened and Mark wasn’t one to keep dragging on emotions. He then concluded with that he was over thinking this whole situation and decided to completely move on, Jack would understand.

The elevator doors opened after a few jolts and bumps on their way down, they both stepped out and looked around, it was deserted. Jack was about to say something but Mark held his finger up, something was definitely wrong here. They slowly walked around the corner to where the large open space was, where the reception desk was, some couches for waiting visitors and two massive glass doors leading to the outside. It was a pigsty, paper scattered all over the marble floor, the crackling of broken glass echoed through the building as Jack and Mark tried to sneak towards the reception desk. 

There was blood puddles and splashes all over the ground and walls, Mark’s heart began to race, he was going to die here. They passed around the large marble wall at the back of the desk so they had full access to the desk’s accessories. There was a woman in the wheel chair, her head rested on the desk surrounded by sticky notes, pens and many coffee cups. 

She was facing the opposite way so neither Jack nor Mark could see her face, only the back of her dirty brown hair. 

Mark stopped, needing a break to just breathe and look around before he investigated this possible dead lady. Jack stood beside him, doing the same, feeling as if at any second he was going to vomit from all the adrenaline that was running throughout him. In front of the desk was a large circular carpet, either side of the carpet had long white couches, separated by small coffee tables that held all different kinds of brochures. Then continuing forward were the earlier mentioned glass doors, they were bordered with what looked like gold and brass handles. 

On the left to Mark and Jake were two doors, the bathrooms for women and men, each had their own gold symbol on the dark brown wood. On their right were corridors to who knows what, staff rooms, storage room, Mark wasn’t ready to explore that path just yet. Behind them to the left like upstairs, were the elevators, there was nothing but more walls on the right back side. Jack felt his heart about to explode with fear, excitement and curiosity, mostly fear. He ran a shaky hand through his faded green hair, what the fuck was happening?

“Mark, let’s leave right now. Please, let’s just book tickets and get out of here.” Sean said quietly, his voice rough and rustic. Mark turned around and raised his eyebrows, warning him to be silent, not wanting to cause any attention to them if anyone else was nearby. Jack just nodded and took a deep breath; Mark took the lead and slowly crept towards the woman. He slid behind the desk, dodging all the papers and pens as he made his way towards her; he stood beside her and lifted his hand, reaching for her shoulder.

“Excuse me?” He whispered, placing his hand on her, nothing happened for a second before she lifted her head and whipped around, lashing out with her blood stained nails. Her face was pale and crooked, one eye bulged and bloodshot, she had a large gash down her right cheek which was bleeding heavily.   
She let out an odd, wailing sound along with a dry growl, her blood drooling mouth opening and closing constantly. 

Mark froze, then shot back and stumbled to the ground letting out a shout in surprise, sliding away and cutting his hands on the shattered glass. 

Jack reached Mark’s side and lifted him up quickly as the woman stood up drowsily and wobbled towards the two men. Her purple shirt was covered in more blood, the whole scene made Jack feel queasy, he dragged Mark away by the shoulders, wanting to say something but his whole body seemed to have shut down. They both turned and ran towards the front doors, being careful not to lose their balance on the glass. 

Before they could reach the exit, two figures stepped in the way, and then moved towards them. Jack was afraid that it was more of what ever attacked them and quickly turned directions and ran to the side, looking behind him to see that Mark had done the same.

The people ran between them and towards the woman, the taller held up his axe high above his head than swung, clean cutting through her head. Jack bent over and groaned, his stomach was churning and his throat was tight. Mark turned around to see the two men, he recognised their faces straight away now that they weren’t silhouettes, it was Dan and Phil.

“What did I say about staying inside fellas?” Dan said, giving Mark a grin, who looked away.

Phil walked up to Jack and placed a hand on his shoulder, he flinched but didn’t protest. The Irishman felt like he would blow his last meal right then and there, images of the blood and muck flashed through his mind, making it worse. He dropped to his knees, a little too dramatically and lent back over while Phil drew small circles on his back between his shoulder blades. Mark jogged over to Jack, trying to ignore the bloody mess of a woman on the floor as he went past, he and Phil swapped places and Phil went over to Dan.

“Are you sure this is a good idea to let these two tag along? They can’t even keep their food in.” Phil sighed, looking over at Mark and Jack crouched over in the corner. He did have to admit, they were a cute couple and it would be fun to mess around with them, but could Dan and him really manage them, they didn’t know a single thing about survival.

“Philly, they’re fine, we can teach all they need to know. Plus, this lot are finally fun.” Dan admitted, shrugging but keeping his smug smile.

“Dan, we both know you can’t handle this a second time if it does happen again.”

“We’re much more aware now alright, we know what we’re doing and I won’t let it happen again.”

“You said that last time and then Louise go-”

“Phil, I said it won’t happen again.” Dan raised his voice, stepping closer to Phil, looking him in the eye. Phil looked down and apologised, he lent forward and wrapped his hands around the taller male, pulling him close into a hug. Dan returned it and kept the warm embrace for quite some time, needing the comfort and support. 

They were interrupted by the choking sound of vomit coming from Jack; breaking apart they both turn their attention to the green haired man slouched over his own puddle of stomach acid.

“Sorry.” His voice was small and weak; Jack looked around and made eye contact with Dan and Phil, his face pale and hollow. Phil turned back to Dan.

“Are you okay Phil?” Dan asked, placing a hand on Phil’s shoulder, he was truly worried for his best friend.

“Not as well as I would have hoped, but I’m still alive.” Phil admitted, looking down at his feet. Jack groaned once more, it echoed throughout the empty lobby, which was then followed by Mark cooing sweetly to Jack.

“We should probably go find him some medicine.” Dan suggested.

“Good idea.”


	4. Look At All Those Zombies

Dan decided to take Mark out and show him where they ‘borrow’ their supplies from, whilst Phil stayed with the damsel in distress, Jack. 

Dan led the red haired around the back of the hotel, making sure not to be in sight of anymore ‘walkers’ as he and Phil liked to call them. Mark took this as a chance to ask every question that circled his mind over the last few hours.

“What the fuck is going on?” He didn’t exactly like Dan or Phil so he didn’t put any effort into saying it kindly. Dan’s back was to the wall at the back of the hotel, whereas Mark just casually walked behind him. Dan stopped, not to answer Mark but to look around the corner, craning his neck as he searched for any walkers. After seeing there were none is sight he turned back to Mark, frowning.

“You really can’t figure it out yourself? Have you ever watched a movie in your life?”

Mark was overly confused, he tilted his head to the left a little to show Dan he had no clue to what he was going on about.

“Look, I just want a straight answer not some shitty hints like a fucking treasure hunt.” Mark added in the cuss words to make it sound cooler, he thought of himself as a badass.

“Would you like me to spell it out for you then, maybe that’ll help?” Dan smiled and raised his eyebrows, it wasn’t a friendly smile but an ‘I am done with your shit’ smile, Mark picked that up quickly.

“Dude, would you just tell me for fucks sake!” Mark shouted, throwing his hands in the air, to which Dan shushed him quickly and was about to cover his mouth.

“You idiot, zombies, they’re all zombies, and if you don’t shut the hell up, you’ll be one too! Z-O-M-B-I-E-S!” Dan said in a harsh but whispering voice, he glared at Mark before turning back around to peek around the brick wall to see if any had appeared due to Mark’s sudden outburst. Mark just laughed in return, finding this whole situation hilarious and equally bizarre.

“There’s no such thing as zombies you doof.” He said smirking, Dan turned around to have an expression on his face that read, ‘are you fucking kidding me right now’.

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Mark made sure to congratulate himself later on that; he was spot on and quite proud. “If they’re not real then how do you explain that woman that nearly gnawed on you and your boyfriend?”

“Well actually, that was my best friend and… and…” Dan stifled his smile at the boyfriend comment, knowing they were best friends but so were he and Phil and no one can avoid the inevitable.

“Exactly, now help me out would ya’. We need to make it to the next building but I’m not sure if there are walkers down behind that kiosk.” Dan said, pointing around the corner to one of the straw beach huts that Mark spotted earlier from his balcony. Mark looked around and saw it, agreeing with his point but needed more questions answered before they continued, all this was too much.

“Wait, Dan.” 

Dan had already started running for the next building which looked like a bank, they were in the middle of a street, there was a board walk then the beach if you walked north far enough. The street included endless shops on one side and the lovely view of the sunset on the other, Mark was sure everything here to buy was far too expensive for him, despite the reasonably large amount money he made from YouTube. He followed Dan and snuck from the current wall to the next, taking a quick peek at the kiosk as he ran. There was a really mangled looking walker lying over the counter, this kiosk looked like a bar and he was probably the bartender. “Dan!” Mark whispered.

“What?” Dan whipped around once they were safe behind the bank; he stared at Mark with unamused brown eyes.  
“Do you know anything about the tablets they gave us when we were evacuated from the party?”

“It was most likely an antibacterial drug, staff was panicking and decided to give them to anyone who was at the party. It wouldn’t have infected you in any way, I’m not even sure it would work on a bitten, guess we’ll have to find out.” 

Dan said before moving along the wall, his red axe high in his hands, Mark hadn’t noticed it earlier. Despite the amount of stress and confusion that was bubbling around in Mark, he felt the smallest bit relieved at Dan’s words, glad he wasn’t dead and wobbling around out there like the rest of the hotel guests.

The two of them went from building to building, remembering to check if the coast was clear before sprinting to the next wall, a checkpoint. Only at this point did Mark realise that he had never changed out of his pyjamas, he still wore his lucky flannel and his own Markiplier pants, quite of a douche move, but they were comfortable. He wore his light grey heelys with florescent peach shoe laces, the fronts had been sprayed with blood most likely from when Jack and he had desperately ran from the first walker they encountered.

Not to mention what the other male was wearing, Dan had a star printed red plaid shirt, almost like Mark’s but it looked much more dapper and oddly out of place, it sadly had splashes of crimson red blood on it. He wore ripped black skinny jeans along with it, typical for Daniel Howell; except Mark was sure the rip didn’t come with the design.

“Okay, we’re here.” Dan announced as they made their way to the back of yet again another building, this time they had their backs to red brick, it pulled on Mark’s shirt, forcing him to stand further away from it than Dan liked. “Back to the wall.” He reminded the red haired male; Mark did what he was told, trying to ignore the cringe worthy feeling of the crusty brick catching onto his beautiful flannel.

“So, where exactly is here?”

“The pharmacy, the janitors closet didn’t do us any good and your boyfriend back at the hotel needs something to make his stomach calm.” Mark felt himself stand up a little straighter and coughed awkwardly at Dan’s mistake.

“Again, he’s not my boyfriend-”

“Whatever, let’s just get into this dump.” Dan concluded, he slid around the corner and out of Marks sight, causing him to panic the slightest bit, not wanting to be left alone. Mark quickly followed Dan, they both extremely slowly made their way down the side of the pharmacy, behind them was where the tropical forest was located, which made Mark freak even more. Every time Mark looked back over his shoulder he would be greeted by pretty leaves and colourful flowers, tall trees of every kind and beautiful looking moss and fungus, except he knew the depths of the forest weren’t going to be as welcoming and didn’t want to explore it. There used to be bird songs and calls, he remembered them from the first night, one of the few memories of that night and it had to be birds.

Dan stopped and stared for what seemed like forever, he held his axe tightly, ready to swing at anything moving that wasn’t Mark or himself. He could see the bartender walker in the distance by the kiosk, but that wasn’t the problem, the problem included the four walkers by the board walk right in front of them.  
Luckily for Dan and Mark there was a palm tree between the pharmacy and the store beside it, hiding Mark and himself from the walkers who were circling around another kiosk.

It wasn’t the least bit odd for there to be so many kiosks along the boardwalk, the founders would need quite a few due to the amount of population at this tropical paradise, about every fourth shop, there would be one opposite to it on the other side of the road.

Dan frowned; confused as to why he was thinking about this place’s layout design and not on how they get inside the pharmacy without being seen or making the least amount of noise possible to not catch the walkers attention.

“Shit, there are four of them. Dan, what do we do?” Mark whispered, looking over Dan’s shoulder, eyeing the walkers by the kiosk. Dan looked back at Mark’s worried by slightly serious face; Dan had to admit that he had completely no idea how to get out of this situation. He had said earlier that they needed the meds for Jack, but really it was mostly for Phil. Dan and Phil had been in a sticky situation and it wasn’t an easy escape, but it had only been a minor injury and Dan was sure that in time Phil would be as good as new.

“Okay, we need something to distract them so that we can hopefully just sneak in.” Dan said, referring to the pharmacy door that was only a few feet away. Then as if on a silent signal, a scream ripped through the air, it sounded like a female judging from the pitch.

“Might just be our lucky day.” Mark smirked, kneeling down so he was closer to the ground, feeling safer as he peered over Dan’s shoulder and out from around the palm tree.

A number of footsteps echoed through the street, Dan predicted that the person was wearing flip-flops from the way their shoes slapped against the pavement. The walkers stood up straighter, they turned their head towards the girl and man, who ran down the street. Bags were swinging from their hands as they sprinted, one wearing tiny shorts and a tank top while the other wore plain shorts and a polo shirt. The walkers grunted and groaned; their cries were dry and rustic, they waved their arms, if they had any, towards the two girls. 

They slowly approached them, dragging one leg in front of the other; their skin was all green and blotchy, their clothes ripped and brown from dried blood.

“Fuck, Ryan, where do we go?” The pastel haired woman shouted, she hadn’t seen the walkers in front of the upcoming kiosk yet and kept running, her voice was distressed and scared. The Asian male behind her just kept pushing her on, he also had a fearful expression plastered on his face.

“Jenna, keep running, keep running!” He replied, his voice was also loud and his words were rushed, that’s when he saw the walkers and stopped moving. 

“Jen- stop!” Ryan wailed, she looked behind her shoulder too see Ryan’s face turning pale, she stopped and looked in front of her. Only a foot away were the four walkers, they hobbled towards her, growling and bubbling with dark liquid that Dan didn’t qualify as blood. 

Jenna screamed once again, she turned around faster than anyone Dan had ever seen, she was quick to move and ran the way they came, Ryan in front of her this time. The walkers were outrun but they didn’t give up, they attempted to run after Jenna and Ryan, one falling over due to a broken leg. Now it was time for Dan and Mark to take some action.

“Go, go, go! Get inside quickly!” Dan ordered, he scrambled to his feet and sprinted towards the pharmacy door. Mark was right at his heels. He felt bad that they were using Jenna and Ryan to get inside but there was no other way, so he grabbed the handle and pushed it strongly, relieved that it was unlocked. Dan and Mark ran into the pharmacy, Dan hadn’t even thought about it there were walkers inside. Mark looked around and spotted one straight away by the counter, luckily he was one of the stupidest ones and didn’t know how to climb over or go through the small swinging door around the counter.

“What are we looking for?” Mark asked Dan, rushing his words just like Ryan had done only a few seconds earlier, he was in his running stance and looked Dan in the eye, waiting for him to order something to the red haired male. Dan panicked; he hadn’t thought about it until now and had absolutely no idea, so he just went along with it.

“Anything that looks helpful!” He shouted as he ran towards the counter where the walker was lashing his mangled arms out at him. Dan took his axe and swung, closing his eyes as a spray of dark blood hit his face.

Mark nodded and was already by the door of the storage room, knowing there would be meds of all sorts. It was locked so Mark ran back to the counter where Dan had successfully sliced through the walkers head, causing Mark to look away and hold his breath, the sight was bad enough but the stench was unbearable.

“Keys.” Was the only word Mark could let out, he was afraid of opening his mouth in case of any germs from the walker that somehow infected him through that way. Dan understood and reached over the desk, fiddling with something underneath it then pulling back, dangling keys in his hand to which were then passed over to a nauseous Mark. Mark returned back to the storage room door and picked out the only key that had the initials engraved into it ‘SR’, hopefully meaning storage room.

The door finally opened but it was a little rusty, so Mark slammed his shoulder into it and it swung open, making a loud bang as the door hit the other side of the wall forcefully. He clenched his teeth and let out a small ‘oops’ as he rushed inside, there were five different racks full of small white bottles that contains all different types of drugs.

Mark cursed to himself, he should have brought a bag, but then he thought of an idea. He ran out of the room and back into the main part of the store, he tried to ignore the walker as much as he could as he investigated the front desk for any bags, not the plastic type.

He finally found a brown paper bag, it wasn’t what he was hopping for but it was better than a plastic bag that would crackle everything you moved. Before no time he was back inside the storage room, collecting anything and everything, pulling handfuls of bottles into the paper bag. The bag was bigger than the usual ones you would get for lunch at school, it was perfect, but Mark would need a few more if he was going to have to fit everything.

The screams of Jenna and Ryan had long gone; Dan and Mark had been in the pharmacy for quite some time and the walkers were starting to wander around again, obviously not interested in Ryan and Jenna anymore. Mark was carrying three paper bags at this point and had moved out of the storage room and into to the main section, Dan had helped Mark and held two paper bags, later to be put into his backpack once they were safe at the lobby. Dan noticed that the walkers were slowly making their way back to their original kiosk, he was unsure why, surely walkers didn’t care where they stayed, they didn’t have functional brains. This still worried Dan, so he gathered up his bags

“Let’s go, I think this is more than plenty.” Mark agreed and they headed out, Dan put the counter keys in his pocket, thinking ahead of time. They pulled open the front door and quietly made their way around the building. Mark was in lead this time, feeling more comfortable with his surroundings and the company of Dan, not to mention the walkers. 

They repeated the technique they used to get to the pharmacy, checking through the gaps then running to the next back of a building. They were faster this time, used to checking for the walkers, everything was the same except this time Mark didn’t shower Dan with questions. 

He still had plenty to be answered but didn’t think that now was the time, it was getting dark, Mark predicting it to be around 5:00 PM.


	5. They Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I wrote the past few chapters a few months ago, this chapter was written a few days ago, so my writing has changed in that gap of time, I'm sorry if it's noticeably different! But I tried my best to try and keep the story line going, the way I was describing and writing it before. Hope you enjoy this!

They got back to the lobby around 5:12 and were welcomed with silence; Jack and Phil had disappeared. Mark wasn’t as calm as Dan, he was only new to this whole ‘zombie’ nonsense and completely freaked when he discovered that Jack was no longer here.

“Jack? Jack!” He called out; his voice rang throughout the lobby, bouncing off of the bare walls. 

Dan looked back at him and punched his arm, warning him to be quiet; they couldn’t afford to have walkers inside the lobby.

“Dude, shut up, they’re probably just in the toilets.” Dan reminded Mark that Jack wasn’t feeling to good when they left for the pharmacy, Mark had almost forgotten about the brown paper bags he was holding. "Oh, and while you're there, can you let them know that we'll be leaving shortly."

"Where to?"

"Just our little hide out thingy, somewhere safe, Phil knows about it." Mark nodded and put the bags down; he dodged the couches and went over to the male toilets, opening to push door then walking down a short hallway. He heard voices coming from the door at the end of the hallway; stopping outside of it he put his ear to the door.

“J-Jack…” The first voice whined; Mark recognised Phil’s voice loud and clear. He frowned and listened harder, making sure not to push too hard on the door and give away his location to the two men in the bathroom. _What in the world are they doing?_

“Sorry, I’ll be more careful.” Jack voice was dominant and caring; his accent was thick on his tongue, showing that he was concentrating. Mark wasn’t sure why he knew this but it obviously came in handy. That’s when the grunts came in, Phil cried out, his words barely audible through his clenched teeth. Sexual images came to Mark’s mind as he listened to Phil’s fidgeting and Jack’s soothing words, he shuddered at the thought as to what they were doing inside.

“What the fuck are you two doing in here?” Mark was meant to just normally open the door but instead lost his balance and forced all his weight onto the door, it swung open and Mark slid down it and fell to the floor. 

He looked up to see both Jack and Phil’s surprised faces, they were sitting on the ground, a wet cloth in Jack’s hand and a pencil in Phil’s mouth.

“Oh, hey Mark.” Phil muffled, he looked back to Jack who started to giggle, which then made Phil laugh.

“Were you listening from behind the door?” Jack’s eyebrows knitted in confusion, focusing back at Phil’s arm that was placed on Jack’s knee, he dabbed a few more times. Mark sat up and looked over to what Jack was tending to.

Phil pulled his arm away and leaned back, making sure to shield his wound from Mark who looked at him confusingly. Mark got the hint and sat back down, leaning against the open door and staring back at Jack and Phil. 

“I’m sorry, it’s just-”

“I understand, its okay.” Mark assured Phil, waving his hand before placing it back down in his lap. Inside he was burning with curiosity, wanting to know what Jack was healing.

Jack looked his way. “Mark.”

Mark hummed back.

“Ye’ mind,” Jack tilted his head, pulling his lips to a side, in a suggestive gesture, “giving us some time?”  
Mark wasn’t surprised, but he acted that way. He stood up quickly, running a hand through his red hair.

“Yeah of course, sorry about that.” He didn’t bother to mention that Dan was willing to take them to their ‘hide out’, despite the fact that that had been Dan's instruction. He just shrugged and left, feeling irritated that everything seemed to be a secret, especially to Mark. 

Mark had nothing else to do so he pulled out his phone in the toilet leading hallway, between Dan’s destination and Jack and Phil’s. Deciding to give his friends back in LA a little call, just to check up on Ryan and Matt and see if everything was okay. Or more importantly, if there were dead people walking about there as well. Mark let the phone ring a few times, no answer. He tried again, no answer. One more time, three time's the charm. No answer.

 _Fuck._

Mark sighed, suddenly remembering when someone had first spoken from Dan's phone outside their room, the reception was shitty and it cut out a lot. That must be why Mark's calls couldn't get through. Mark wouldn't exactly say he was panicking for his friends back at home, but the feeling was somewhere along those lines.

"Hey, Mark." He was snapped out of his thoughts by the freakishly taller male calling for him, he pocked his head around the corner from the lobby. 

"Yeah?" 

"Did you get them yet?" 

"Well," Mark looked behind him to the toilet door, wondering if he should tell Dan exactly what was stopping him. "Jack's being a doctor right now." 

Dan frowned for a second, before gasping slightly and rushing forward, pushing past Mark and muttering something about going to help pack up. To which, he didn't, obviously. Dan entered the toilets, moments after, Mark hurried forward and got into the same position as before, with his ear on the door.

"You know?" Dan's voice was quiet and hushed, trying desperately for Mark not to hear from outside.

There was no response, Mark was left to assume that someone had nodded. Probably Jack.

"Well shit," he recognised Dan's voice again. "and you're not freaked out?"

"I was at first, but, I joined point A to B and," Jack took a moment to think for words, "I was more concerned than scared, if ya' know what I mean."

Again, no response. He hated this, why were there always secrets kept from him, no one ever told the red head shit. Mark expected to be a leader in this situation, in any situation really, his ego took over majority of the time, and although he was a nice person, he was also very forward and took charge a lot. And in his mind, Mark was the leader, for him and Jack. Caring for Jack felt right for Mark, the Irishman was younger and smaller, it was just out of instinct that Mark would protect him first over anyone else. The real question was that was it only that, that made Mark feel the overwhelming urge to protect the enthusiastic boy all the time?

Mark decided to give up, he stood up and made his way back to the centre of the lobby, where Dan's backpack was, along with their medicine bags. There was an odd shuffling sound that rung in Mark's ears, causing him to stand still and hold his breath. Had that come form the bathroom?

Suddenly a door opened and Mark whipped around, for some reason, expecting a _walker_. Instead, it was just Jack, giggling to himself after raising an eyebrow at Mark's odd position, "Chill out dude."

"You nearly gave me a heart attack." Mark huffed, leaning over to gain back the breath he had been holding for too long.

"Hey, sorry about earlier. Phil just had to sort some stuff out and I happened to be the only one here to help." Jack attempted to apologise, in all honesty, it didn't make Mark feel the slightest better.

"Oh it's all good. S'he alright?" 

"Yeah, he's fine," Jack shuffled his feet awkwardly, as if trying to change the subject. "Anyway... How did you and Dan go?"

"It was surreal. These two people, Jenna and Ryan distracted the walkers for us and then we trashed the pharmacy and robbed it." Mark smiled, it wasn't a warm smile. It was a scared small, one begging for help and guidance because he didn't want to be here. "Anyway, how you feeling buddy?" 

Jack rubbed the back of his neck, looking anywhere but the red haired man before him, for some reason. "Better, not like before this whole mess, but I'm definitely better."

Mark didn't want to be stuck in the fucking lobby, bring the elephant in the room where no one would even tell him anything. It was like he was in primary school again and everyone would talk behind your back, literally, you could almost hear what they were whispering about you. Mark nodded to Jack's reply, then quickly grew sweaty, did Jack even know about everything?

"Wait, Phil did tell you about the zombies and everything right?" 

Jack nodded his head, fiddling with his hands, like it would speed up time. "Yeah, yeah he did. It's fucking up my brain and all this is making me feel uneasy." 

Mark couldn't help but agree. 

"I hate it here." 

Jack's voice was weak and quiet, it didn't break like he had expected it to, but it wasn't exactly confident like Mark's seemed to be. It almost melted Mark's heart watching Jack in this state, vulnerable and frightened.

"Well, that makes two of us."

Jack smiled slightly at Mark, it kind of reassured him knowing that he wasn't alone on the fact that he literally wanted to curl up and die right then and there. Jack took a few steps towards Mark, he gave the taller man's shoulder a quick pat. "Really Mark, I'm sorry for kicking you out earlier,"

Mark shifted on his feet for a second, before facing Jack entirely with his body. "Dude, it's fine, seriously, stop bringing it back up." Mark had a sudden urge to just spill everything out at Jack, maybe then he would tell him. "But I mean, if you ever need to tell me anything, that's worth telling me, then I'm always here for you dude. But I'm really hating the fact that ya'll making it obvious that I'm not included in this whole thing, I mean, we're in this togeth-"

"Phil's been bitten." 

Mark raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I-I don't know the whole story, but apparently someone called Louise bit Phil... after she turned?" Jack side glanced at Mark, he hardly knew what he was even talking about, all this was so confusing that Jack could only _just_ keep track on what everyone was discussing, everyone meaning Dan and Phil.

"Shit." Mark sighed, covering his face with his hands. 

Jack felt a sting of pity for the man, even a bit for himself. It wasn't their fault they were stuck on this island just as this whole bullshit zombie thing broke out, if it wasn't for Dan and Phil, Jack and Mark would have been dead by now. And somehow, Jack thought he would have preferred that, now he seemed to feel like blowing chunks every time he tries to stand up. Now Jack had so much to worry about, Phil not turning into a dead man, getting out of here alive, _staying fucking alive,_ making sure no one else in their little 'pity party' gets bitten, and even Mark. Jack constantly worries about Mark, with Daniel dying and everything,and now this, the man could practically crumble at any second.

It should really be him to offer Mark emotional support, only god knows he needs it. The Irishman turned his focus back to Mark, his head in his hands, mumbling something under his breath. Jack almost felt his heart beat out of his chest, he looked so helpless just standing there, his fingertips messily tangled in his hair. Jack just wanted to pull him into a hug, he wanted to show Mark that he cared for him and that he was there for him. But nevertheless, that was considered uncouth, just pulling someone onto you. _In a nonsexual way_

"Alright, you suckers, let's get us all some rest." 

Mark swung his head back up, he and Jack turned to see Dan and Phil enter the lobby, Phil looking paler than usual, but still plastered a smile on his face. Dan was leading him around by the wrist, Jack carefully took note that that wasn't the one bandaged and instead was clean and, _normal._

"Where're we heading?" Jack asked, tilting his head in Mark's direction for guidance. _Not that Mark would know, this trip is just full of surprises._

Mark gave a half-hearted shrug. "Oh, Dan's got some secret hideout of some sort, something along those lines." 

_Never mind then... I guess Mark isn't as hopeless as I thought._

"Exactly, and I don't know about you, but I'm freezing my ass off here. Pack up your shit coz' we're heading out!" Dan threw his arms in the air, smiling, as if everything was normal and he was an entertainer at some knock-off children's party. 

_Oh shit!_ Jack had totally forgot about all he and Mark's belongings back in their hotel room, they better go get that before Dan and Phil mysteriously disappear again. "Hold up, Mark and I need to go get some stuff from the room." Mark nodded along and he and Jack jogged back to the elevators after an approval from Dan.

Being in the elevators alone with Mark was just as awkward as when in the lobby, the only sounds being made were the creaking of the elevator gears churning. Jack shuffled his feet, once again, he didn't know what else to do, it came naturally.

It really shouldn't have been this awkward, especially around Mark, they were best friends, they saw each other a lot, but why now was it so quiet? Jack looked over to Mark and coughed, trying to at least break the tension between the two. Mark looked over at Jack's cough, he then giggled, making Jack straighten his back in surprise. Mark wasn't quite looking at Jack's face, but more the top of his head. 

"What? What is it?" He asked urgently.

Mark continued to giggle, raising his hand up and pointing at Jack's green dyed hair. "Your h-hair." 

"What about my hair?" Jack said, feeling a little self-conscious, especially with the fact that he couldn't even see his own hair. Mark took a step closing, turning his chuckling into a smirk, a happy smirk. It warmed Jack to see him back to his old _Markimoo self_ , even if it was just for a second. By this point, the two men had completely forgot about that they were in an elevator, one reaching floor twelve, their floor. 

"Here, let me fix it." 

Mark reached a hand out and carefully ran it through Jack's hair, the warmth radiated off his fingers and made Jack's spine tingle. His breath accidentally hitched, he'd never mentioned to anyone how much he was a sucker for people playing with his hair. He'd never needed to, but right now, Jack couldn't help but melt under Mark's touch. Jack had to start holding his breath in case any sighs or gasps escape, he couldn't even tell the Korean to stop because he knew his voice wouldn't even be able to hold a single word. Mark didn't seem to notice Jack becoming hot and slightly flustered, so he continued to what he thought, was _innocently_ fixing Jack's hair. The only thought running through Mark's head at the time was how Jack's hair was so soft, and how he needed to teach him how he washed it. He also didn't seem to notice how long he had had his hand in the other's hair, maybe it wasn't as long as he thought, but Jack sure felt like it was happening in slow motion, which killed. 

That's when the elevator hit their floor, the whole metal box shook and stopped with a bang. Mark lost balance and launched forward, colliding bodies with Jack. His chest was painfully pinning Jack's shoulder, while his other was _also_ painfully crushed against the cold elevator wall. Jack let out a little yelp of surprise, it may not have been because of the bump, but because of the fact that Mark's hand was still blissfully tangled in his hair. 

Both of the men thought that this was one hundred percent more awkward than when entering the elevator. How did they even manage to get in this situation, or position? With Mark kind of hugging Jack's side, one hand almost stuck in his hair, and Jack crammed between Mark's warm chest and metal wall. 

"Uh, I-I'm sorry about... that." Mark quickly backed away, allowing Jack to breathe now that both of his hands were by his side. Jack turned his head, afraid that his cheeks were red because he could feel them burning, the Irishman didn't want to make this _any more awkward than it already was, if that was even possible._

The elevator doors opened with a _'ding'_ , and Jack quickly mumbled under his breath before speed-walking down the hall towards their room. "That's okay." Jack patted down his hair with his hand, nervous that bits were still sticking up and Mark would offer to fix it again. As much as he wanted the elder to play with his hair again, he wouldn't allow him to see him in such a state. 

Mark trailed behind him, confused as to why Jack was acting oddly. _Maybe I said something? Was fixing his hair the wrong thing to do? I did linger a little longer than I should have... maybe that's it._ Mark dismissed his thoughts and fished around his pockets for the key card, swiping it at the door, it opened and the two boys rushed in to grab their belongings that were needed. Only now had they realised how late they were, and were both a little scared that Dan and Phil may have left without them.

"Do we need everything?" Finally, Jack was sure he could speak normally. He mentally forced the earlier event to the back of his mind, trying his best to forget it even happened.

"I don't think so. I don't know where he's taking us and if there's enough space for our bags." Mark shared his thoughts while hurriedly shoving anything necessary into his backpack, he and Jack both ran around their room, picking things up off the ground and searching through their already ruined suitcases.

"Fuck man, I don't know what to bring, did Dan say anything about what is needed?" 

Mark shook his head, hoping the other was watching him do so. "Just get your backpack and put some clothes in there, your phone charger, wallet, anything that you wouldn't leave behind if you were going on a trip." 

"Passport?" Jack stood up, waving a small navy blue booklet in the air.

"Yeah why not, who knows when we're getting out of here, but it'll come in handy." 

"How about-"

Mark grabbed his arm, startling the green haired boy. "Dude, just take whatever _you_ think you'll need, we need to get out of here." 

"Okay, okay." Jack tugged his arm out of Mark's grip, continuing to pack his belongings into the black backpack he held in his non-free hand. Mark did the same, then he grabbed a plastic bag and scavenged through the mini-bar. Jack raised an eyebrow at his actions.

"What are you doing? There's hardly anything good in there."

Mark took handfuls of colourful packets and wrapped them all up in the plastic bag. "Who know's when we'll find food next."

"But aren't there just cafes and shit outside?" Jack was confused.

"You haven't been out there, it's horrible. Everyone's dead, there's no one monitoring anything, the best we can do is find a supermarket and clear out all the walkers inside, living there would be glorious." Mark sighed, turning around to see Jack's pale features, he didn't like the fact that the cliche zombie movies were coming to life. The thought made him feel sick, once again, but he tried to shrug it off, kneeling back down to grab his beanie off of the ground. 

Jack walked back to he door, standing under the frame, he sucked in a deep breath of the somewhat temperature-less air. It slightly made him feel the need to gag, imagining all the dead people fumes mixing with his oxygen. Finally he swung his backpack over his shoulder, allowing the bands to wrap safely over and under his armpit.

"Okay, I'm all set."

"Let's go."


	6. Just Bros Holding Hands, Like Bros

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During their long walk to Dan's 'safe place', Jack laughs about jacking-off to his friends.  
> feat. GAY SURPRISE!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> word count: 4,086

After another awkward trip in the elevator, Jack and Mark were more than glad to find their two tall companions still in the lobby. Dan was tapping his foot as the coloured haired men walked towards them, rather slowly. 

“Jesus, can you two go any slower?” Dan spat, voice thick with sarcasm. 

Mark and Jack just scoffed, looking around the lobby a little longer to check if they’d left anything down here. Jack was immediately reminded by the fact that most likely everyone in this hotel is dead, the receptionist’s head was still lying in a puddle of her own blood. Luckily, this time Jack didn’t feel the need to bend over and vomit, not that anything was left inside of him. He just wanted to get out of here, find somewhere to eat, and then sleep until all this was over. 

“Can we go?” The green haired boy asked, almost demanding. Dan nodded at him and went over to the couches where Phil was sitting down, the tallest of them all stuck out his hand and Phil gladly took it. 

Dan and Phil took the lead, Mark and Jack were left to walk about a metre behind them. Their shoulders brushed as they stumbled towards the hotel doors, the only reason for their closeness was pure fear.

Jack looked up from his feet and focused on the two males in front of him, he noticed that they were quite close as well. That’s when he saw it. Jack felt his stomach drop. Dan and Phil were holding hands, supporting each other as they walked. It took Jack by surprise, not that he was against homosexuals, but he’d never seen this coming. Jack shook his head mentally, he couldn’t assume anything, it could just be friendly hand holding, for bros. _Right?_

Mark nudged his shoulder, and he looked across to see Mark smiling. _What a giveaway._

“You knew?” Jack had to keep his voice hushed as they excited the building, he could hear Dan and Phil mumbling about something together and didn’t want them to hear what he was saying. Mark just shrugged and turned his attention back to the scenery, probably looking out for the dead. “What’s that s’pose to mean?”

Mark just chuckled under his breath before turning back to Jack. “They were pretty obvious. I would’ve thought you’d know before me, since you already knew them and all.” Back again with his devilish grin. 

Jack shook his head, interested but confused. “How were they obvious?” 

“Well while you were throwing up all over the place, they were hugging it out pretty aggressively.” 

Jack nearly chocked on his own spit, he raised an eyebrow at his Korean friend, "Aggressively?" 

Mark chuckled, bringing a hand up to his nose and pinching it, "You know what I mean, dickhead." now it was Jack's turn to laugh.

Mark looked away from Jack again, scanning the area as they turned around the side of the hotel and trained along the backs of the buildings. Just like how Mark and Dan had gotten to the pharmacy, except this time, they were going the opposite way. Mark quickly calculated the direction in his head, if the beach was pointing north and the hotel wasn’t exactly south but in the centre, they were moving east but on the south point line. The tropical forest that was once again behind them, in the far south regions, was now trailing to their right. They travelled along a path between the backs of buildings and the first few trees of the forest. Mark considered himself safe where they were, there certainly weren’t any walkers behind the buildings and unless there were some in the forest, they were tucked away in nature.

“I never noticed.” 

Jack’s voice pulled Mark away from his thoughts, which was for the best because Mark had only now realised how close he and Jack had become, they arms were rubbing together as they walked. He took a side step and hummed in response, trying not to seem rude or bring attention to the fact he was uneasy being so close to the Irishman. 

Mark was about to say something else when he bumped into something in front of him, fearing it was a walker he quickly brought his fists up to his face for defence. Instead it was Phil, they’d stopped and were now nervously looking over the corner of a building wall. Now Mark just looked stupid in his fighting stance, so he quickly stood up straight and leaned over Phil's back, trying to see what all the ruckus was about.

“What’s wrong?” He whispered while tapping on Phil’s back, which was hunched over a little more than Dan to be able to see past him. Phil turned around and whispered something back.

“Nothing, we’re just checking if we can cross over.” Phil pulling his free wrist up to check his watch, Mark noticed the bandage a little higher than the wristwatch, probably where he got bit. The thought made Mark wince slightly, poor Phil. “It’ll take about twenty more minutes to get to our destination.” Phil smiled at the two of them.

 _In the very few hours that I’ve known this guy, I can’t think of one person who is nicer. It’s awfully suspicious._ Reminding himself of suspicious feelings, Phil used to have a shovel, the one he had seen him with when they first met. 

Mark nodded at his earlier statement. “Where’d your shovel go?” 

Phil looked down as if to see it by his feet, then looked back up to Mark, pouting a little bit. “Once we left you two, we ran into a few walkers while trying to get someone-” 

He was interrupted by Dan pulling on his hand as they quickly crossed the large gap between buildings, Phil just turned around and ran with Dan. Jack pushed Mark a little and they both followed the two males in front of them. Jack didn’t bother looking sideways for walkers as they passed the gap, not because he was too lazy to glance in that direction, but purely because he didn’t want to see. Jack didn’t want to see dead people, he was already sick of it, it was scary and dangerous. If someone had asked the poor Irish boy when he was younger how he thought he was going to die, being ripped apart by zombies wouldn’t have even been an option, it was ridiculous. Maybe being eaten by the living dead sounded awesome back then, but not anymore. 

The four of them re-joined behind the next building, and Mark tried to restart the convocation. “Carry on.” He looked straight at Phil, but he didn’t seem to understand what he meant.

“What?” Phil raised an eyebrow.

Mark opened his mouth to explain but once again Dan interrupted with a ‘shush’. The red haired man scoffed, crossing his arms dramatically, causing Dan to frown, wondering why he ever agreed to help them. Jack laughed at this, swatting Mark’s shoulder playfully. “Easy hothead.” 

After a few more minutes of silence, Mark began leaning on Jack’s shoulder more, using him for support as they walked. Jack knew he must be exhausted, he had been walking far longer than Jack had. The Irishman also remembered Mark mentioning some tense moments when he and Dan stole from the pharmacy, all Mark’s energy must be drained by now. He could feel the warmth radiating off of his friend, relaxing him a little, Jack pushed back on Mark slightly, meeting him half way. Now they both relied on each other with their weight, and it evened out nicely.

 _Leaning on each other while walking is a normal thing to do between two friends, right? Besides, we’re both straight here, so it doesn’t matter. Think about it more as trust Jackaboy, he’s got enough trust in you as a friend to be comfortable around you. Including, acting like this. Nothing weird about it._ Jack hopelessly thought to himself, he didn’t want to see it any other way, nor even think about the other, likely impossible, option. 

The silence carried on longer, and Jack thought it should have made him feel uneasy like everything else on this trip, but it didn’t. Jack felt more at peace than on edge, which was new considering they’re living in a world of dead people out to eat them. He was confused as to why but didn’t think about it more than he needed to, little did he know that he was just completely oblivious to the answer. 

Any question relating to how he felt always had an answer, but Jack was too stubborn and mostly blind to even realise it. And even if Jack did have any thoughts or odd urges caused by men, he’d never even consider himself being gay. He knew which category he’d been born to be in very clearly, and that was the straight one. Every guy sometimes gets turned on by another man. Hell, Jack could get aroused when being around Dan Avidan any day, that doesn’t exactly signify that he’s gay. He could probably even jackoff to the thought of Arin Hanson, or maybe even Mark-

_No I wouldn’t. God no, ew. Jesus._

Jack shook his head, unaware of the fact that Mark himself was looking at him. Now Jack had thought it, he couldn’t get the image out of his head. Him fapping with Mark on his mind. Now that, that grossed him out. That was wrong. Mark was his best friend, and it almost made Jack groan in disgust at the thought of it. 

Jack broke out into small laughter, Mark still looking at him in confusion, and now horror. Jack glanced at Mark and immediately giggled again, this was crazy. Jack would have never guessed that this day would come, him laughing at the thought of masturbating to his best friend and idol. Now Mark was looking at Jack as if he’d just killed a man, which in all honesty would most likely soon be ticked off his bucket list now that they were in an apocalypse. 

“What’s so funny?” 

Mark had now moved over so that he and Jack weren’t touching, almost as if he had read Jack’s thoughts and was revolted with his friend. The Irishman shrugged in response, smiling lazily. His cheeks were a little hot, but Jack assumed it was from laughing. “Nothing.” 

"Suuree..." Mark made a weird face, one that made Jack laugh harder, which was then silenced by Dan whipping around and shushing him. "You're no fun, Dan." 

Dan glanced back at the two smaller men, his mouth slightly open and he had his pre-eye-roll face on. "Okay, how about you try leading two retards through a zombie apocalypse?" He smiled almost sarcastically, he raised both eyebrows and Mark could see Phil frown at his rudeness. 

_Alright then, two can play this game._ Mark tilted his head, smiling gently, "You're referring to yourself and Phil, correct?" 

Jack nudged Mark's arm in warning, but he could see the Irishman trying to keep his laughter in from the corner of his eye. That was an invitation to continue. Dan's face became more scrunched up and irritated, by this point, the four of them had stopped mid way through crossing a gap. But none of them noticed what danger they were putting themselves in, instead they were too caught him in the heated discussion. If that's even what it was. 

"Fuck you, asian." Dan let go of Phil's hand to flip him the bird.

Mark gasped dramatically, "Racist much? Tell me who pissed in your tea this morning, I'll congratulate them." 

Jack nudged the taller man's shoulder harder, despite the fact that his face was turning red from keeping laughter in, Dan _was_ the one helping them. And Jack knew that without these two, they wouldn't survive, they needed them, and at the moment, Dan and Mark weren't exactly too friendly with each other. There was a possibility that they'd call it quits and leave Mark and Jack to die at any second. "Mark, stop it." He warned in a hushed voice.

"I swear to go-" Phil reached out to Dan and pulled on his shoulders so the brunet would face him. 

"Dan, let it go. We're all tired," Jack couldn't help but agree with Phil's words, "let's just get to the cabin, okay?" 

Dan sighed, glaring at Mark once more, who smiled at the younger boy. Then of course, to make the situation worse, an odd gurgling noise came from the side of the men. All of them turned to see a few people stumble towards them, blood dripping from their faces and staining their ripped clothes. They were dead, as Jack expected. Dan quickly shouted something but Jack wasn't focusing on his voice, he was worried about his heart beat and if it would slam out of his chest. And before the Irishman knew it, he was being dragged along by his shirt, a fist balled into the fabric on his chest. Jack could hardly see anything anymore, adrenaline flowed through him but his vision was slightly blurry from panic. 

Mark was in front of him, still leading him by his shirt, Dan and Phil weren't holding hands anymore, but they were running as fast as they could, Dan in front. Jack could hear his panting and didn't dare look behind him, just like they taught him during races in primary school: never look behind you. The walkers were right at his heels, he could hear their sickening grunts and cracking of bones as they tried to keep up with the only four alive people there. Mark finally let go of Jack and used his arm to push on Jack's back, as he was behind all of the rest, he tried to boost him a little. 

Jack's feet were going numb, he accepted the boost and stopped thinking about his life, but about his speed. He pushed himself to as fast as his little legs would go, of course Dan was leading, he had the longest legs out of them all. Mark was now slightly behind him but he was gaining more speed as he ran. Dan shouted some type of warning, but again Jack couldn't register his words, it sounded like a completely different language. Quickly Dan and Phil turned a sharp corner, heading right onto a small made out path into the trees. Jack skidded along the ground, he nearly lost his balance as he tried to take the turn as well. 

Jack couldn't hear the walkers anymore and hoped they hadn't seen them enter the forest, not that he was glad about being absorbed by the darkness. All that was audible was the guy's heavy pants, their lungs screaming for a break and more air. Now wasn't the time for Jack to think sexually of the noises they were all making, so he cleared his mind and kept running, following close behind Dan and Phil.

"T-Take a right!" Dan shouted from up front, suddenly making another sharp turn. They were now moving in single file, the path was very thin and only just visible. Jack would have missed it if he wasn't deliberately looking for it. There were still thick trees on the path that they had to dodge, and branches to dunk under. But at least they could find their way back, Jack hoped. Dan started to slow down, and only then had Jack turned around, relieved to see nothing had followed them. They were all now walking. No one talked, everyone was too busy catching their breathe and mentally and physically healing from the heart racing event. 

There were a few twigs and weeds littering the path, a few of which Jack had tripped on, luckily Mark was behind him to pull his back up before he hit the ground. Jack felt his stomach drop every time he felt Mark's hand grip his waist from behind, forcing his small body to stand again. Jack would have been ticklish there if only he didn't feel so uncomfortable about it. What was so weird about it? Mark was only trying to help, to which Jack was glad. 

The path grew a little wider and Mark joined Jack by his side, Dan and Phil imitated them. It was very dark at this hour, none of them had checked their phones yet so Jack pulled out his. It was coming close to eight at night, no wonder it was so eerie and dim outside. Jack decided to speak up, after shoving his phone back in his pocket, "Is the cabin this way?" his voice was oddly quiet and a little broken, but at least he'd spoken.

Dan looked behind him and nodded to the green haired man, "We're close, don't worry."

Jack let out a shaky breath, today was bad, if not the worst. Shit was hitting the fan every second and Jack was more scared than he's ever been in his life, he wanted to go to sleep and wake up in his warm bed at home. Fuck this holiday, why the hell had he even gone?

Oh... Mark. 

Jack felt guilty, if he was having a bad time, he couldn't imagine how Mark felt. One of his closest friends had just died and now his life was turned upside down with this void of fuck-ups. Mark still hadn't said who'd found the ginger once he'd tried to commit suicide, he just hoped it wasn't Ryan. The two had met in high school and Jack was sure he might cry on the spot if he found out it was Ryan who found his best friend bleeding limp on the floor. Jack had tried to comfort Mark over skype once he'd heard about it, but they seemed to take a break for a few weeks. Anyone who contacted Mark, Ryan or Matt never got a response, but Jack supposed they deserved the silent treatment. They were going through very tough time after all. That was all only a month ago. 

Jack was too busy in a day dream and didn't notice the root right in front of his foot, he accidentally got his foot stuck underneath it, once again. He fell forward with a squeak, before a arm snaked its way around the Irishman's waist and pulled him into a warm body. Mark had now strung his arm tightly around Jack's hips and was letting him lean into his side, almost like a side hug. It was meant to keep the green haired boy on his feet, but he was so overwhelmed with the sudden action that he somehow managed to stumble even more, this then causing his reflexes to kick in, making Jack's hand clasp onto Mark's chest to keep himself steady. What a fucking journey, from tripping to suddenly cuddling up with his muscular friend. 

The only thing Jack was thinking at that moment was how to hide his blush, the one he knew was so big that it was making his ears hot. Luckily it was too dark for Mark to notice, otherwise a lot of questions would be asked, and Jack wasn't sure if he knew the answer to them yet. Mark chuckled under his breath at Jack's clumsiness, Jack could feel it vibrate through his chest and into Jack, sending tingles down his spine. With his hand on Mark's chest, Jack could feel his heartbeat, and it was going rather fast for someone casually walking. Scrap that, what was Jack thinking? It was probably just from the running and this whole situation anyway, the zombie situation...not the current situation. No way. The Irishman was about to pull away, but somehow, Mark had gripped tighter, forcing Jack to stay where he was. Both of them had stopped, of course, and Dan and Phil were still leading, seeming to be completely oblivious to what had just happened. 

"Uhh...Mark?" Jack whispered, confused as to why Mark was still holding onto him. Immediately the red haired man pulled away, leaving Jack slightly cold and secretly yearning for the warmth of the other's body.

"Aha, sorry dude," Mark subconsciously rubbed the back of his neck, "you okay?" 

Jack didn't dare look at Mark, just in case he was able to pick up on his red face, he didn't risk it, but he appreciated Mark's concern. "Yeah, I'm fine, thanks."

They didn't speak after that, they both were thinking the same thing: forget it even happened. Because that was the easiest way to handle things like that, Jack didn't want to think about it, because he'd _liked_ it, but he didn't want to. Maybe being so far away from Signe had made him horny, either way, he knew his mind was just playing with him, and his dick. There was no possible way he'd actually enjoyed being that close to Mark, hugs were okay, but lingering actions like that, nope. It was obviously just his body wanting attention, so he tried to shrug it off, hating the thought of wanting Mark to give him attention. Definitely not _that_ type of attention. 

_Why the fuck am I even thinking about this? That's the second time today, no wait. Third. It didn't mean anything, shut the hell up, ME!_ Jack mentally slapped himself.

After a few more minutes of silence, Dan and Phil break out into a run. The forest filling with the sound of their feet crunching all the leaves, along with birds and wind rustling bushes. Jack glances at Mark, he's got a panicked expression, so they decide to follow them. The path slowly becomes thinner while the two smaller men run side by side, so Jack let's Mark go in front, back into single file. It's now very dark and the only way Jack could tell where to step was just simply watching Mark's feet, anywhere the Korean's feet would be placed, so would Jack's. Somehow, it worked and Jack didn't trip. 

Dan and Broke through a large wall of branches, Jack hesitated to follow Mark through, only because it was hard enough to see the branches them self and he wasn't sure what was on the other side. But either way, he forced his way through, using his arms to rip a few away from scratching his face. Suddenly, Jack found himself in a very small clearing, there were bushes surrounding it and the grass wasn't too tall for Jack to be worried for snakes. In the centre of the opening was a cabin, a wooden one to exact. 

_That must be the cabin, the 'safe place' Dan keeps talking about._ It was the size of Jack's old wooded house. Dan and Phil didn't seem to have to stop and observe the place like he and Mark did, instead they just kept running towards the door. All the window shutters were sealed shut, only letting little glimpses of light seek through. 

Jack followed Dan and Phil, who were now holding hands again, making Jack feel a little uncomfortable. Mark was still in front of him, already through the door of the cabin. Jack shut the door behind him, quietly, scared any walkers would be able to hear them, despite the fact they were now very deep into the dark wilderness. It was almost pitch back outside now. 

A low, muffled, moan was heard as soon as Jack was inside of the warm cabin, it surprised him, he widened his eyes at Mark, suggestively. Dan and Phil broke apart, setting their backpacks on the bench that greeted Jack a few feet away, lining the bench were a few stools and behind was a small kitchen, including sinks and cupboards up top. It very much reminded Jack of a UV, only he was glad this cabin was two story.

A painful whine was heard again. 

Jack turned on his heels and saw another small room, there was no doorway leading into it, it was all connected with the front door and kitchen. At the far, far side of the room, there was a staircase leading to another level, probably including bedrooms. There was a coffee table pushed to the side and someone lay on the carpet on the ground. Two couches were a few feet away from the lying man, one on either side of him, it looked like a family room, with a fireplace close by. Another man was kneeling by the guy lying down, he was on his knees and applying something to the bearded man. One girl was sitting on the couch closest to the bearded man, they all seemed needy and none surprised that the four of them had just barged in. Maybe Dan and Phil knew them? Thinking about it now, Jack was amazing at how this really was like a cliche movie: Cabin in the Woods, even. 

"Guys, we're back, and we've got medicine." Dan said, he sounded like he was in panic. The guy kneeling down looked up, at first Jack nor Mark recognised him. They didn't recognise _any_ of them, yet.

"J-Jack? Mark?" The blonde asked, his voice thick with shock.

Mark swallowed hard.

"Felix?"

There Felix sat, towering over Ken whose shirt was soaked with blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are always appreciated, i love reading them and it encourages me to keep writing this :)
> 
> thanks guys xx


	7. He's Not Bitten, It's Okay?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ken's been shot, Mary's hopeful, Marzia is quiet, Mark is sad, Jack is tired, Felix is hurting, Phil is dying and Dan is crying.
> 
> The world is chaos outside but it's time for a break.

"Fuck dude." Was all Jack could say, his throat felt tight and the familiar feeling of queasiness gradually made it's way back to the Irishman's stomach. So much shit was happening in such a short amount of time, and now magically all of his best friends were showing up out of no where, not to mention half dead. 

Jack glanced over to Mark, hoping to be given a reassuring look to at least settle his nerves a little, but alas, he wasn't even surprised to see Mark staring at Felix and Ken as well. His mouth was half open, he didn't look scared, but instead his eyebrows were knitted together in what looked like anger? Confusion? Jack couldn't really tell, his own head was spinning too much to even recognise his own thoughts about the current situation. 

"W-wha-... I don't-" Mark stuttered, his now obvious confusion radiating off of his small body (although big compared to Jack), Jack couldn't help but mentally agree to Mark's mix of words. What in the world was happening?

"I'm so fucking glad you two are here," Felix almost sobbed, his voice shook with worry and relief, he wasn't alone. "Ken, he's been-" Felix didn't need to finish, he just simply looked down to the larger male beside his knees and everyone in the room seemed to understand that he was in danger of dying. Ken was lying on his back, his breathing was loud and off beat, which scared Jack, his black shirt was darker than it was supposed to be, the front was completely soaked with blood. Ken's arms and legs were untouched, dirty and a little bruised, but not bitten or bandaged like Phil's. 

"Shot?" Mark asked, his voice thick and scared, Felix looked up sadly and nodded.

"How do we know he wasn't bitten?" Dan says, seeming to be new the the whole concept of Ken hurt, despite the impression he made that he knew exactly what was going on. 

Felix grimaced at the thought of Ken being bitten, then shook his head almost violently, "Because I watched him get shot, that's why. He's not bitten, it's okay." 

Jack could sense regret and guilt leaking from Felix's voice, his whole body was slouched over Ken like he was already mourning, he wasn't dead yet. He still had a chance, didn't he? 

Mark returned the remark, "But maybe he was infected, one of the walkers coul-"

"No! It wasn't a walker, you guys weren't there!" The Swede scoffed, obviously becoming defensive for his bearded best friend.

Mark held his hands up in surrender and Dan shot him a look that read, 'back off'.

Jack looked up from the floor, taking in for the first time that he actually recognised the other two people in the room, they were female. One had beautiful brown hair, fading to a lighter shade near the tips. She had deep brown eyes, not as chocolatey as Mark's, or Dan's, but a little paler. Her skin was tanned, and she was around the same height as the other girl. It was Marzia, Felix's girlfriend, they must have been on holiday together. 

Jack searched the features of the other girl, soon to discover that it was indeed Ken's girlfriend, Mary, just as he had excepted. Maybe they all went on a double-date trip... to the exact same destination that Mark and Jack did, at the same time... weird. Mary's usual blonde hair had now changed to a greeny blue, almost like an aqua. Jack found himself hesitating to recognise Ken's girlfriend, possible because of the hair. Her eyes were blue and Jack was unsure if she was wearing contacts or if that was her natural colour, he couldn't remember, to which he felt guilty, after knowing Ken for many years. 

As much as Mark wanted to ask about Felix and why he was here, or any one else in that matter, he knew that now wasn't the time. He was surprised to see the blonde Swedish man, and Ken, but he knew this situation was serious and pushed his questions and thoughts to the back of his head.

Mark didn't waste any time, Dan ushered him to grab the paper bags they'd brought and walk towards Ken and Felix, by the coffee table. "What do we do?"

Dan pointed at Ken's shirt, "We need to get clear access to his chest. That's where the wound is right, Felix?" 

"His stomach," Felix corrected, his Swedish accent was flowing through his words, probably due to stress. Dan kneeled down beside Felix, putting the bag beside his leg, Mark sat down on the other side of Ken, closer to Mary's feet, who was currently standing next to the couch. Ken's eyes were half closed, he wasn't unconscious yet and was fighting to stay awake, Mark assumed that he'd lost a lot of blood. The bearded man wasn't aware of the others around him speaking, let alone his surroundings, he was in a world of pain and tiredness. Mark and Felix lifted Ken's arms up and shimmed his shirt off, revealing his hairy chest and stomach. Ken was basically asleep to them, perfect for them to 'operate' on him. 

Mark stifled his gasp when he saw what made Ken so drowsy, right beneath his right rib cage, on Felix and Dan's side, was a deep gash and puncture holes, raw flesh was spiking up from the wounds and blood still oozed out slowly. Mark's arms felt weak and he was afraid he was about to vomit on Ken right then and there, luckily he took a deep breath and looked back at Felix and Dan, who looked just as pale. Mark gulped, "What happened exactly?"

"Ken and I were raiding through a grocery store, hoping to find some canned food and shit, but we ran into a gang of walkers. As if that wasn't bad enough, there was another group of scavengers there and they attacked us and took the food. They shot him twice and it was hell trying to get him back here. I must've made it worse." Felix sighed, looking back down at the mess of Ken's body, he tried to mop up the blood trailing down his side with his shirt. 

Mark looked over at Dan, "You knew he was like this the entire time and didn't bother to go here straight away?" 

Dan glared at the Korean, he wasn't exactly friends with the man, so why try to play nicely. "Phil was fucking bitten, I called Felix and he said that Ken was going to be okay until we fixed him up." Dan said, flicking his finger towards Phil, who stood next to Jack, helping him unpack the food he and Mark had brought. 

Mark was confused, he had tried to call Matt and Ryan earlier and wasn't able to, "How did you call him? I thought the signal was down?"

Dan scoffed, his eyes burning with rage, he leaned over Ken and spat in Mark's face. "Do you want Ken to die? Because at this rate, he'll be gone before morning." 

Felix pulled Dan back onto his knees with a thud, "Please guys, this is serious, can we just help him already?" Dan shot him an apologetic glance, but Mark just stared at his hands in his lap. _So if the signal is fine, why didn't either Matt or Ryan pick up their phones, or the home phone?_

Dan searching through the bad, pulling out some gauze, and handing it over to Felix. The blonde man somehow knew what to do and pressed the material to both bullet wounds, they were very close together, almost as one puncture. He used both of his palms to press down evenly on the gauze, Ken didn't react at all, not even a flinch. _He must be really out of it._

The one thing Mark did know how to treat, was shock, but Ken didn't seem to even be breathing, Mark panicked. He quickly pulled out his phone and tilted it right above Ken's lips and nose, his screen soon became a little clouded and Mark let out a sigh of relief, knowing that Ken was actually breathing. 

Felix was still applying pressure to the material and Dan shared a worried glance with Mark, "Do we remove the bullet?"

Dan shook his head, looking back down at Felix's handy work, "He'll lose too much blood for sure, the best we can do is clean it up a little and bandage it."

Felix tilted his head towards Dan's direction, "But if it stays in, can't he get lead poisoning?" 

"Yeah, he can. But he'll die if we try to take it out, let's just put some alcohol on it and try and prevent infection." Dan said matter-of-factly, as if he's done all of this before, which scared Mark a little.

Felix only nodded, his face was scrunched up in panic, he feared that his best friend would die right then and there. Mark knew too well how that felt. He was still having a hard time keeping his breathing steady while he watched Felix treat Ken, thinking about Daniel now was a bad idea and Mark felt his stomach drop. Why did all of this have to happen now? Couldn't Mark just have a fucking break?

Felix cleared his voice and gestured for Dan to pass him the lonely vodka bottle on the coffee table, which was pushed out of the way for Ken's sake. The carpet underneath them was imprinted with pale squares, it symbolised where the coffee table had been located after what seemed like years, Mark took his mind of things for a second by comparing the freshly hidden carpet and the now, dirty, carpet. 

Mark didn't watch as Dan cleaned out Ken's wound, he couldn't bring himself to looking, it pained him to see Ken like this. To see _all_ of them like this, hurt, confused, lost, in danger, no one was in control of their lives anymore. And as far as Mark knew, almost everyone on this island was dead, the students getting an education to become something important in life, the families who were finally happy with everything they've done to get were they were to this day, the employees working here to keep their own life together, they're all dead. And Mark knew that soon that will be him, stumbling around this hell-hole with broken bones and a ruined, blood drooling face. 

He didn't want it to happen, and he didn't fear it as much as he thought he would. He feared what his fans would think, that one last video that 'Markiplier' uploaded that was just like the rest, no more effort put into it than the rest. 

The community that Mark had made and the people that relied on him to keep them happy, at peace, and now their savoir had just disappeared with no explanation. He'd let them down. And Matt and Ryan, he'd never shared with them his feelings, about how much he loved those boys. 

And Daniel. 

Mark had never gotten the chance to tell him how much he respected him as a friend, and that the stuff he did that went unseen was amazing and inspiring. He was a beauty to the world and it might seem like just another person dead, but to Mark, his world had crumbled, it was meant to be Daniel who ran after Mark, for he was the more 'popular' and 'known' of the two. But it always seemed the other way round, Mark couldn't get enough of Daniel's talent, and there were countless nights that he'd find himself sitting on his bed until early in the morning, ear to the wall, listening to Daniel from next door, playing tunes out of nowhere, and he was always left jaw-dropped. 

Mark would always keep up his tough guy act and try to impress Daniel, whether it was his humour or acting skills, every time Daniel would laugh or smile at Mark's efforts, it would make the Korean's whole day.

It was like having a crush in high school, he'd do anything to get Daniel's attention, except he wasn't crushing on the man, he was just so amazed at the fact that this person was real, the literal angel that stood right in front of Mark's eyes, and that the angel himself, couldn't see that back. Mark wondered what Daniel would think when he looked at himself in a mirror, would he laugh and shrug off the fact that his hair was turning grey, or that he had an incoming pimple, or did he stare longer, mentally screaming at himself to make a move to _change_ something in himself. It had taken a lot for Mark to drag himself out here, and part of him didn't regret it, part of him thanked himself, he was doing something and that kept his mind off of things, which was good. Except there was a large chance that he could die at any minute, and in maybe the worst ways possible. But despite that, Mark fucking adored that ginger and he was really his idol, Mark only wished that Daniel was finally happy where he is now. Where ever that may be.

But Mark wanted answers. He wanted to know if anyone else in the world was having this experience, the zombies, apocalypse. Or maybe it was only the current island he was standing on this very second, both made sense, of course people would come back from the dead. That made perfect sense. 

"Okay let's get him somewhere comfortable to rest, it'll be a few days before he's even up again, but that's normal. Let's all pray that it doesn't become infected," Dan said, slapping his hands together after putting the bandages away, Mark was surprised, he must have been zoned out for a while since the alcohol because Ken was already wrapped up and clean _er._

"Let's take shifts, since we need to anyway to make sure nothing bad happens in the night, but for the person to keep an eye for Ken as well." Felix suggested, scooting over a little, getting in position to pick Ken up. Mark instinctively offered to help, crouching on his side of Ken to let Felix know that he'd carry the bearded man with him. 

"A fever is a sign of infection, so we'll have to check his temperature every now and then." Mark pointed out, finally relived that he could help at all in this situation, after being clueless when Dan was treating the actual wound. Maybe he could be the caretaker for his larger friend.

Dan nodded, he still sat on the floor packing up the supplies they used. Mark and Felix half dragged Ken over to the nearest couch, which was the same one Mark sat in front and Mary was currently standing next to. Speaking of which, she nor Marzia had spoken a word since Mark and Jack had arrived, and Phil and Dan. Once Ken was in what looked like a comfortable position on the soft brown couch, Mark looked up to Mary and offered a small smile.

"Haven't seen you in forever," Mark said softly, pulling the taller girl into a hug, he rubbed her back gently. Mary buried her head into his shoulder, closing her eyes tightly.

"It's been too long Mark," She replied, "Ken was really excited to see you as well." 

_Ken was excited to see me? What does she mean?_

Mark shrugged off his rambling mind and relaxed a little, pulling away to face the now distressed looking Mary.

"How're you holding up?" He was the worst at comforting people, but it's the thought that counts.

"Not too well, I'm good though. I'll make it," She looked down sadly at her boyfriend, "hopefully he will as well." 

Mark rested a hand on her shoulder, he frowned a little. "He's a very strong man, he's going to be just fine, don't worry." Mark promised, although he didn't quite believe it himself, Mary seemed to and breathed out slowly to reveal a confident smile. 

"Thanks." Mary said before turning away to kneel beside Ken and tuck his hair behind his ears, Mark found it adorable. Mark moved on as well, walking back over to Jack and Phil, who were still unpacking all the things they'd gotten onto the kitchen bench. He stood closer to Jack than usual, but Mark felt that he needed the extra warmth.

***

The three of them were leaning on the marble bench while they slowly progressed on emptying the bags, finally they were done and Jack looked up to see Felix and Marzia had disappeared, Mary was left in the room with Ken on the couch and Dan was near the stairs trying to start the fireplace. 

Jack looked slowly beside him, expecting the raven haired boy to be mext to him, but instead Phil had disapppeared and Jack was desperately trying to remember seeing him leave, seeming as he would have had to walk right in front of the Irishman to go upstairs, the only other exit to the kitchen/living room. It scared Jack to think that something like that didn't even stay in his memory long enough for him to become aware of it, that was a bad sign considering the enviroment they were all living in now. 

Jack also hadn't noticed how close Mark had become, he was now practically leaning on his shoulder for support. _For support._

Jack had a thought that it wasn't the best idea to light a fire, the smoke coming out the chimney could cause attention for any walkers nearby. But he didn't have the strength to move and warn Dan without calling out across the cabin, he didn't want to, he was so comfortable and warm, which was difficult to be when standing. He guess that Mark helped, being so close and all, and if he was being perfectly honest, he didn't want Mark to move a muscle. 

Jack felt his eye lids become heavy and he knew he was on the verge of sleep, but he was standing and the demanding voice in his head was pleading Jack to tell Dan not to light that fire. The brunet looked like he was having trouble, he'd been there for a while. Jack couldn't think straight, it must be really late because Jack had only now realised that he had no energy and was starving, not that he could eat, being this tired and all. But somehow he'd managed to drag himself away from Mark's hot body and shuffle over the carpet towards Dan. As he got closer, he saw that Dan wasn't even sitting in front of the fireplace, instead, he was about a metre away. 

Jack kneeled down beside him and saw that he held a small necklace, a locket in fact, and he was gazing lovingly at a small picture inside. Jack wanted to see who it was of, he really did, but he was smart enough not to go poking his nose in other people's business, so instead, he just sat next to Dan.

Dan didn't flinch, he didn't move, he didn't even look at Jack, he just allowed Jack to slightly lean on his shoulder whilst they both sat there, Dan looking at his locket, and Jack slowly fighting to keep his eyes open, focusing his vision on the details of brick that made the fireplace. The outside world didn't bother Jack anymore, he was too worn out to even think about it, and it was nice. He didn't have to worry anymore. It took Jack an embarrassing long amount of time to realise that Dan's whole body was slightly trembling, he was crying. Very quietly.

Jack didn't ask why, he knew Daniel Howell off of Youtube and considered him a friend, they might have gotten off on the wrong hand this morning, but everyone was a friend to Jack, we're all human.

Jack was too tired to have any time to judge the boy, he didn't think about it too much and just felt that he needed to comfort the brunet. 

_Little did Jack know, that this small action would change the view of the world for another person entirely._

So without hesitation, Jack swung his arm around Dan's broad shoulders and pulled him closer, so that Dan's head rested in-between Jack's neck and shoulder. He wasn't as warm as Mark, and he certainly didn't make Jack feel as warm as being next to Mark, but it was nice. The locket Dan was holding fell from his limp hands and rolled onto the floor in front of Jack's feet. 

It snapped shut and for a second Jack swore that that one noise echoed throughout the room, which caused Jack to wonder if the others had left yet. But then he remembered Felix mentioning something about a lookout and knew at least one person would be down here at a time.

Jack and Dan sat there for what seemed like eternity, Jack was now asleep and Dan was very quietly sniffling and taking deep breaths, something his mother had taught him to do to keep his heart rate at a steady speed. The warmth of Dan's body made up for the lack of fire and it sent Jack into a deep sleep, maybe one of the best he's ever had since Daniel's passing. Dan's head was spinning and thousands of thoughts clouded his mind, he didn't want to waste his life away. He knew that Phil's was slowly coming to an end, and he wanted to spend their time together wisely. But Dan didn't know, he didn't _know how,_ and that broke him inside. Nevertheless, Dan discovered something new that night, all thanks to Jack. 

"The time will pass anyway, I can either spend it creating a life I want, or living a life I don't want." Dan murmured almost silently, "The choice is mine." 

***

Assuming to be later that night, Jack was woken up by his whole body rocking. He was being carried up a staircase, he could tell without opening his eyes by the heavy footsteps that tried to stifle the impact on his small body. Jack slowly ripping his eyes open, his eye lids felt like they were glued together and they were unbelievably heavy and almost felt numb.

The green haired man expected to lay his unfocused eyes on Dan's face, who was the last person he remembered seeing earlier that night. But instead he could clearly make out a head of red hair, raven sides and honey skin against the dark lighting. It was Mark. 

Since when was Mark with Jack? He couldn't remember, and he really didn't care. As long as his back hit a soft mattress soon, he'd be just peachy. 

Just as he'd wished, Mark layed him down gently onto a mattress, Jack could see the white sheets brighter than anything else in the small room that had taken an entire hallway to get to. 

Jack relaxed again, closing his eyes fully and slowly falling back into his feep slumber when he felt soft fingers against his forehead. Mark was brushing the small, rogue strands of hair behind his ears, and Jack would be lying if he said it didn't feel nice as all hell. 

The touch nearly sent a shudder down Jack's spine but he held it back to live in the moment. Maybe he really just was horny and missing Signe. That was it, he was revolting, he shouldn't like this. But it is only friendly right? Right.

It didn't last long anyway, and glady, because before long, Mark had moved on and Jack heard a squeak of springs from the other side of the room.

Jack was now far too tired to even guess what Mark was doing, instead he slipped completely into the darkness. Letting the unconscious take him, and it felt better than anything he'd ever experienced before.

Somehow, a small voice made it's way into the Irishman's head as he doozed off and he recognised the meaning of each word after a long line of silence. 

"Goodnight, Sean."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please try to leave a comment, it helps more than you think :') really encourages to me to continue this story, thanks for all your support so far, it really means a lot, thanks so much my dudes <3


	8. Starved Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack's becoming skinner by the minute and Mark's trying to force feed him. Mary's constantly by Ken's side, Marzia speaks up, Felix takes leadership and Dan and Phil, they're trying to spend their lasting time together happily. And Ken? Well, he's just really unlucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was so bad and i had to really force myself to write it, its only 3k and i rushed and fucked up the pacing by adding some gay bits in there, and the story line is so bad and out of control. ill get better and hopefully rewrite this in a few years time, who knows. but idc atm

Ken felt like he was dead, in fact, he couldn't feel a thing, it was weird. He couldn't think, it was like he wasn't him anymore, everything was dark but he wasn't aware of that, he was gone. It's like the nightmares he'd have as a kid, about what would happen once he passed away? Would his world stop, would it just be nothing or would he just be reborn, but not have any idea. Because he wasn't him but someone else. He always thought about life as a comic book, once he's done reading and living the story, he'd close the book. The story was finished, it was over. Would that happen for him as well? Would his life just flash to darkness and he wouldn't be able to think over his life anymore, would it just disappear, along with him? It scared him, it really fucking scared him. And although Ken was unconscious know and unaware of anything around him, it was always in the back of his mind, the constant fear that one day, any day, he would die.

Ken had been through a lot in his life, and YouTube was one of the worst ideas of his life. The subscribers, the people, the hate, it all got to him. And no matter how many times he told his fans or himself that numbers didn't count, it was always a lie, he'd never believe it. His best friend had almost 50 million subscribers and there was always a running joke in the YouTube community, they'd always pick on each other. It was just the way to make friends, but Ken didn't like it. Ken made his friends through kindness, and it slowly made Felix relax into the bearded man as well. He didn't have to boast or act cool, especially for someone with numbers far below him, but he did it for friendship. And it also worked for Jack as well, one of the nicest people on earth. But through all of that, there was always the screaming of his mind that told him he just wasn't good enough, he didn't deserve to be any of their friends, he didn't deserve Mary, he was being used, for fame and money, by his loved ones. And it hurt him, it broke him to the point that Ken wouldn't go outside and just lock himself in his room, slowly gaining more weight. 

Ken hated it so much. 

***

A gravelly voice woke Jack up from his sleep, it was deeper than any usual voice he'd heard and Jack knew straight away that it was Mark. The Irishman remembered his voice from the day before, it was probably the fifth time he'd ever seen Mark in the morning, in real life, over Skype was different. Skype was always too grainy and the connection never lasted, now Jack was always by Mark's side, he could see his face close up any time he wanted, and he fucking loved it.

"Wake up, sleepy head."

Mark was up and about by the time of day, he'd gone down stairs to check on Ken with Mary half an hour ago, and now he was just unpacking the clothes he and Jack had brought from their hotel room. Mark put the shirt down and stood up, he looked down at the king sized bed in the middle of the room, Jack was curled up in the sheets. The cover was half off his body and his shirt was riding up a little to show off the hair by his pelvis, Jack's head hair was a mess and none of it stuck to his forehead like usual, it was all pushed back into a slight quiff. One of his arms was located above his head, almost like he was about to stretch but stopped halfway, and the other was strung over his stomach. Mark's breath hitched at the sight, his heart began beating faster and Mark was desperately trying to look away. 

But he couldn't, Jack looked so pure and pretty in this state and Mark couldn't help but stare in awe. Except Mark felt himself grow creepier and creepier by the second, watching his best friend like this wasn't really acceptable. Jack's head lifted slowly, blinking groggily at the Korean who smiled from ear to ear. What a dork that green haired man was.

"What.... What time is it?" Jack's voice is muffled my his hands that are currently running up and down his face in effort to take himself up more. Mark smirked at the sight.

"Almost twelve," The Korean bent over to finish folding the abandoned shirt, "Don't worry though, spend as much time sleeping as you need." 

Jack raised an eyebrow at this, still not used to the way Mark behaved in real life, in front of the Irishman's eyes and not through a pixelated screen. His deep voice was soothing and Jack felt as if he would slip away to sleep at any second, but he fought against it. Instead sitting up in the rather large bed and looking around to examine the room he didn't recognise. Jack looked over to his right to see a couch that was pushed up against the wall, the only other things in the room were that and a small wardrobe looking drawer that Mark was packing clothing into at that very second. That wooden piece of furniture was closer to the door of the room, which Jack faced from the opposite side of the small space, smaller than their old hotel room. Which Jack wished he was in relaxing instead of this, dealing with _this,_ whatever that may be. 

The couch that Jack faintly remembered, from last night, Mark making it squeak as he presumably lay down onto it; was made of a baby-blue faux leather, which for the record did not at all match the room Jack was currently pondering in. It was 30 percent leather, and 70 percent foam, but Jack supposed it felt alright considering Mark wasn't muttering his ass off, complaining about it. 

"All right," he said. "I'm about done." He walked over to the right, towards a desk that Jack had never noticed and was quite confused about. _Was that always there?_ Mark opened one of the draws and pulled out a small box, he carried it over to Jack and handed it to the still sleepy man. "I did some exploring while you were high last night. Hit the jackpot." He announced with pride in his rich voice.

Jack nodded softly, before opening the black matte box, inside was something rustic and cold on his fingertips. It was a gun, a pistol to be precise. It didn't even take Jack by surprise, his stomach flipped a few times with fear and excitement, but for America in their current year, abandoned guns laying around didn't surprise Jack one bit. He took it into his hand and let them both sink into the blankets covering his lap.

"Pretty heavy?" Mark snorted with amusement, watching the smaller male weigh the piece of metal in his hands.

"Uh-huh," Jack responded, after a few moments of silence he spoke again, "What if they knew?"

"Who knew?"

"The people living here. What if they knew all of this was going to happen? That's why they have a gun there, maybe they've got other things hidden places, ready to fight for their own existence."

Mark gave a faint laugh which faded away into nothingness, "I don't think anyone knew this was going to happen. We can look for other weapons, it would be useful. But before yesterday, everything going on was just fiction."

"You're right." Jack said finally, putting the pistol back into it's box and passing it back to Mark, standing by the side of the bed. He didn't want to think about such depressing things this early in the morn- afternoon. "Thanks for showing me, I've never held a gun before."

"Now you can tick that off your bucket list." Mark mused, walked steadily back the draw to hide the weapon away. Jack wondering for a moment if there had been any shells in the draw, or in the matte box, maybe he'd been so distracted that he hadn't noticed them; just like the desk.

There wasn't much to say and Jack was at a loss for words, he couldn't think of any convocation starts so instead stood up and went to the wardrobe where Mark was piling clothes. He grabbed a shirt and a pair of shorts that Mark seemed to have left out for him, walking with them bunched in his arms, he turned to Mark once he reached the door.

"Do you mind if I get changed?" 

Mark looked uncomfortable for a second, his cheeks glowing a darker shade as he hurried out of the room, "Of course." Jack was afraid he'd been to rude somehow and scared the elder man off, but shrugged that thought as he closed the door behind Mark. 

Mark continued down the hallway, afraid to wait outside the door for Jack to welcome him back in, or go out. He walked down the small space, gliding his hand across the old walls like he used to back in high school. Banging his fingers numbingly on the assortment of lockers, just out of boredom. But here, it felt different and Mark felt mysterious almost. It was weird. Mark was sick of thinking so deeply about what was going on, he hadn't slept well and only wished for this all to be over. There he goes again, analysing everything, necessary or not. It tired the poor Korean. 

Suddenly Mark heard muffled voices from through the wall, a door appeared to Mark's left and he slowed his footsteps to stop right before the door. He knew it was a dick thing to do, but he couldn't help but feel younger and more curious about these things, it reminded him of when he was a kid and felt the need to explore. So Mark waited until the familiar voice of his friend rung out through the wood again. 

"We can't leave now, you know that babe," Felix pleaded, Mark could even picture his face at this moment, "Soon though, Marzia. I promise, we'll leave soon." 

Mark stood back before turning and continuing to walk down the rest of the hallway towards the stairs, he was already sick of intruding on people's privacy. But that didn't stop the thoughts and theories from swirling around his head. 

_What did Felix mean that he'd leave soon? Where were they going? Were they leaving the rest of the group to rot in his hell hole? To die?_ Mark stifled a groan of frustration, he only wished for things to be normal here. But alas, nothing normal existed anymore. 

The Korean made his way downstairs to be greeted by Mary, once again sitting by Ken and brushing her painted fingernails through his hair. He felt sorry for them but didn't bother showing his pity, he was too tired. "How's he holding up?"

"Pretty well actually, better than I'd expected." Mary smiled, although Mark had already passed her and was heading towards the kitchen bench, he could hear it in her voice.

"That's good."

"Mhm. Have you eaten anything since you left the lobby?"

Mark stood still for a moment, looking over at the woman from behind the kitchen bench and raising an eyebrow in thought. "I haven't, no."

"There's a salami sandwich in the fridge, remember to eat Mark," he reached the fridge and pulled on the handle, revealing a small glow of the light inside. He picked out a rye sandwich, wrapped in gladwrap and squashed slightly, he eyed it carefully. "I just made it yesterday, it's still good, don't worry." 

Mark looked up to find Mary staring at him mockingly, cocking an eyebrow at his curiosity. "Okay." Mark began to unwrap the plastic from the food that was long overdue to be in his stomach, only now realising how hungry he was until this moment. His stomach growled for the bread, Mark took the biggest bite his mouth would allow.

"Hey, slow down there tiger," Mary choked back a laugh whilst watching Mark gobble down his meal, "When Ken wakes up, he'll want to see you alive not on the ground choking on your own food." That struck a note.

Mark was reminded to when she had mentioned that Ken wanted to meet Mark again, so he bothered to ask. "Hey, yesterday, you said Ken was excited to see me? How did he know that I was coming?" 

"Oh, no one told you?"

"No..." Mark tilted his head whilst frowning.

"I wasn't there, but Dan and Phil caught up with Felix and Ken to raid the shop, when the scavengers came, and they told the two that you guys were safe. Ken told Feli about wanted to talk to you guys again, I find it cute. He's so precious." She completely lost interest in talking and turned back to her boyfriend, fluffing up his hair with her hand. Mark stood by the bench, chewing slowly on his food, thinking.

Mark replayed her words in his mind; _'they told the two that you guys were safe.'._ Why not that they were here? Why safe? Could it be possible that Felix and Ken already knew that Jack and Mark would be on this island? Mark swallowed hard and thick, leaving his mouth dry and still hungry for protein but declined biting more food off the delicious meal. _Did all of them know we were here?_

"Di-did you know we were here?" 

Mark looked up, her face slightly paler than usual, which made Mark frown harder. She gave a small as if to assure Mark everything was alright, "Of course not. I-It was just a coincidence we found you two. Uh, lucky as well." 

He didn't believe her, there was definitely something odd going on with this group, and Mark was on edge. He nodded and tried to make Mary think that he shook the whole idea off, but inside his insides were buzzing with questions. _How did they know we were here? Why did they follow us? Why did they come find us? Why are we here? Where's Ryan and Matt? Did they come as well? Who else is here that I don't know about? Why is everyone acting so weird?_

Mark shook his head slightly and took another bite into the sandwich, trying to at least trick himself into thinking everything was normal just for the time being. There was a few moments of silence before Mary spoke up again, cutting through the still air.

"Don't forget to feed your boy-toy."

Mark hummed in question, having trouble swallowing and coughing a little.

"Jack, he hasn't eaten since he's arrived and apparently he's been barfing all over the place, leave some for him. Food is scarce so take care of that little chap."

Mark raised an eyebrow and stifled his smile whilst he took another bite, talking with his mouth full. "Boy-toy huh? And also, he's a grown man, I'm not his caretaker. Gosh Mary, I expected better from you." 

Mary giggled a little and glanced at Mark with challenging eyes, "If you don't believe me, you should see you two from our eyes." She turned her head back, leaving Mark to ponder what she had just said.

"What are you insinuating, exactly?" Mark asked. He took a step around the kitchen bench and walked over to Mary, clearly interested with what the aqua-haired woman had to say.

"He's totally falling for you." 

Mary and Mark both looked up in shock to see Marzia standing in the doorway leading to the stairs, her hair put up in a messy bun. She waved a hand in the air and laughed, Mary joined in and nodded whilst Mark stood there jaw-dropped.

"What?!" Mark nearly shouted, he nearly dropped his food. Mary just sat there smiling.

"We're girls. We can see things boys can't." Marzia continued wearing a shit-eating grin.

"Shut up, he's got a girlfriend, are you crazy? Don't talk about that." Mark insisted, still completely shocked and disgusted despite the fact his stomach was flipping like crazy. Mark growled under his breath, not taking any of their bullshit, he wrapped the bread back into it's plastic and stormed towards the doorway.

He passed Marzia on the way and squeezed past her, she whispered something in his ear as he slid his way through the door. Her breath was hot on his neck and it made his shudder, mid-step.

"Just wait and see."

Mark had had enough, he rushed up the stairs and hissed at himself for getting so riled up, he sped towards Jack's door and slammed it open. Revealing the man sitting cross legged on the bed, playing on his phone, Mark swung the bread his way and luckily the Irishman caught it, avoiding the shower of crumbs that rained his way.

"What's gotten your panties in a knot?" Jack laughed, raising an eyebrow at the now red faced Korean, who sat down on the couch and huffed.

"Nothing." Mark sighed, lying down fully and turning over, his mind was silent and his body was calm. He was so close to falling asleep, after such a rough night, he was happy to be able to rest.

But Felix's leg smashed through the door, kicking it wide open, "Rise and shine, fuckers!" 

Mark groaned and pushed the pillow into his face, he could hear Jack's angelic laughter from the other side of the room. Today was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was so bad and i had to really force myself to write it, its only 3k and i rushed and fucked up the pacing by adding some gay bits in there, and the story line is so bad and out of control. ill get better and hopefully rewrite this in a few years time, who knows. but idc atm


End file.
